A trip to Lesvos in May 2022.
29th May 2022
This is the first time we have been 'Away' since 2019 and it felt good to get a change of scenery. Here is the start of a series of small blogs on various birds from the trip which will be followed by more images in the gallery and eventually a full-on bird report as usual.
A bird that’s on most birder’s list when they visit Lesvos is Kruper’s Nuthatch. A small typical Nuthatch which on Lesvos as in Turkey breeds in Corsican Pine forests.
These Corsican Pine forests are very dry and difficult places on Lesvos.
Unless they call or sing, (thankfully with quite a strident voice) Kruper's Nuthatch can be overlooked, however, with a little effort they can be tracked down from late April to mid-May. A pair had been found with a nest not far away from where we were staying so very early one morning we visited the nest site keeping a good distance from their activities, there was typically no one else around that early and we had an hour just watching them come and go feeding some obviously well grown chicks. Everyone who visited the site, as we found out, treated the birds with respect, which is great. I have a few decent shots of Kruper’s from previous visits to the island so the harsh sunlight which was bathing the nest hole was not a problem for me and I took what was on offer without having to return another time in more favourable light.
Getting up early when birding on Lesvos is fundamentally important because of the harsh light which pervades from very early on and also the very hot sun, especially from mid-May onwards - some mornings it was 35 Celsius by 10.00am.
A bird that’s on most birder’s list when they visit Lesvos is Kruper’s Nuthatch. A small typical Nuthatch which on Lesvos as in Turkey breeds in Corsican Pine forests.
These Corsican Pine forests are very dry and difficult places on Lesvos.
Unless they call or sing, (thankfully with quite a strident voice) Kruper's Nuthatch can be overlooked, however, with a little effort they can be tracked down from late April to mid-May. A pair had been found with a nest not far away from where we were staying so very early one morning we visited the nest site keeping a good distance from their activities, there was typically no one else around that early and we had an hour just watching them come and go feeding some obviously well grown chicks. Everyone who visited the site, as we found out, treated the birds with respect, which is great. I have a few decent shots of Kruper’s from previous visits to the island so the harsh sunlight which was bathing the nest hole was not a problem for me and I took what was on offer without having to return another time in more favourable light.
Getting up early when birding on Lesvos is fundamentally important because of the harsh light which pervades from very early on and also the very hot sun, especially from mid-May onwards - some mornings it was 35 Celsius by 10.00am.