I just got back from a week in Cyprus. It was a family hol. so I wasn't doing intensive birding. It was my 4th visit to Paphos and I saw far fewer species than on spring and autumn visits. 37 species in all (which is about what I'd expect to see in an hour or two on my local patch here in Surrey!)
Highlights were adding sandwich tern to my Cyprus list and seeing a turnstone (not so common it seems in CY).
The birds that would be exciting in the UK included:
Sardinian warbler,
crested lark
serin
chukar
zitting cisticola
alpine swift
black redstart (very common)
Cormorant, black-headed gull, yellow-legged gull, stonechat, song thrush, robin, house sparrow, stonechat, kestrel, buzzard, magpie, hooded crow, jackdaw, white wagtail were all common to abundant. I also saw plenty of great tits and golfinch, linnet, skylark, greenfinch and a couple of coots and grey wags.
We went to Akrotiri salt lake. I could see some pinkish/white blobs in the middle but I suspect that they were pelicans rather than flamingos.
I am 99% sure that I saw a peregrine.
The main interest of the trip was probably that it helped me realise just how many migrant birds travel through Cyprus!
What looked like a brimstone butterfly turns out to be a Cleopatra (sounds more exotic) - a new sp. for me.
Ken
Nice one Ken - I've got a few birding trips lined up to foreign parts shortly, and this has whetted my appetite!
Also nice to hear about the Cleopatra - I only started to take an interest in butterflies last year and am really looking forward to a few good sightings here in the UK and abroad. I saw a Red Admiral the other day, so it won't be long...
All the best.... Ray
"What looked like a brimstone butterfly turns out to be a Cleopatra (sounds more exotic) - a new sp. for me."quote Ken.
Yes Cleos out here also Ken,looks like its going to be a good spring,roll on migration.