Two iconic Lesvos birds.

There are two iconic species that you must see and hopefully photograph on the island of Lesvos. They are Cinereous Bunting and Kruper’s Nuthatch. Their habitats couldn’t be further apart, one lives in the barren rocky mountains in the west of the island, the other in the Corsican pine forests to the east. Patience is needed to photograph both. I have a particular site for the Cinereous Bunting and it never lets me down. Almost all my images of them are perched on rocks but not this time, I managed one perched in a small bush so I’ll use that one.



You can go to the established site for Kruper’s Nuthatch which is a place called Achladeri, which is where all the generic tour companies go. However, this site is far from guaranteed and it can get crowded because of these companies. If you, as an alternative go walking in these forests, which are extensive, you can find your own birds, and that’s what we did with results that we were very pleased with. There was nobody else there and it was so beautifully quiet, just us and the birds.

These images I took of the Kruper's Nuthatch were requested by the environmental centre lecturers on Lesvos who give talks about the island, so that was nice.






You can see why Lesvos is so prolific for birds - look at its proximity (5 miles) from the Turkish mainland.