I was extremely fortunate this year, as I managed to persuade my wife to take our annual holiday on the Greek Island of Lesvos. It was an island I had wanted to visit for a number of years, as I knew how good a place it was for birding. Lesvos has been a popular destination for numerous “Bird Tour Companies” since the mid 1990‘s and it is a relatively easy island to visit. Lesvos now seems to feature as a regular Spring destination on the annual Birding Calender.

Spring appears to be by far the best time to visit the island, with April being the prime month for migration. However it is more difficult to reach in April as currently none of the recognised UK Package Tour companies are offering flights before May.

We chose a holiday package with First Choice (a recognised UK holiday package tour company), staying at Skala Kallonis. Our four hour flight departed from Manchester Airport direct to Mytilini on Lesvos. Our Hotel, Skala Kalloni II, was ideally located for all the main birding areas. It was very clean and tidy, providing excellent accommodation with a swimming pool, bar facilities and serving superb food.

The only disappointment was the lack of any water in the famous Kalloni II fresh water pool, which is smack opposite the hotel. It is now well over grown and appears to be drying out (or being drained) rather rapidly. Several other well known sites also appeared to be shadows of their former selves. The East and West river areas, in particular, were very dry with very little in the way of marsh areas. It seemed to me that there appeared to be rather more man-made degradation, than a result of any recent weather ! Despite all this, the birding proved to be excellent and the company - second to none !!

During my two weeks stay I was able to comfortably visit most of the key sites that are featured in the book by Richard Brooks - “Birding on the Greek Island of Lesvos”.
The Salt Pans at Kalloni; Kalloni Pool East & West River areas; Potamia Valley and inland lake; Limonas Valley; Kalloni Upper East River area; Achlader; NE Coast via Petra; Eressos and approaches via Kalloni; Ipsilou area.

Based at Skalla Kallonis, a hire car is necessary to visit the more remote areas such as Eressos (Cinereous Bunting); Achlader (Kruper’s Nuthatch); Ipsilou (Isabelline Wheatear); Napi Valley (excellent area for migrants); Sigri (excellent area for migrants); Petra (Ruppell’s Warbler). Otherwise the Salt Pans, the East & West River Areas, the Potamia and Limonas Valleys can all be reached either on foot or on bicycle.

I saw 87 species during my stay on Lesvos and considering that I was not doing any intensive birding, I was more than satisfied. Cinereous Bunting and Olive-tree Warbler were new birds for me and the discovery of a 1st summer Great Black-headed Gull on the 31st May was the icing-on-the-cake.

I hope to re-visit Lesvos again, during the month of April if possible, in order to really experience the variety of birds that the island has to offer. I only hope that the disturbance to certain areas, that I witnessed, will not spoil this most wonderful and tranquil island.