Friday 4 June 2010

Last post on Lesvos.

Apologies for this last post taking so long to get on here, I left my laptop at work earlier this week and all my photos were on it! Well, we had about 1/2 a day before we had to leave the hotel for the airport so we went to some local spots for a last few hours of birding on this amazing island. At Metouchi Lake I got the opportunity to digiscope this Squacco Heron. I wish we had them in Britain, they're such stunning looking birds!
These next couple of shots were taken by my friend Jane of a White-winged Black Tern over Metouchi Lake (thanks Jane). I never did get a decent shot, something to aim for next time! (-:
Harder to see, but if you click to enlarge you'll see the White-winged Black Tern flying towards the camera and also an House Martin just skimming the water below it.
I put this photo in specially for Mary as I've seen so many images like this on her blog! (-: I was thinking of you Mary as I took this photo.
Our next stop was the beautiful Potamia Valley. We went back here to try and find one more life bird for me, the Olive Tree Warbler. Thanks to some other friendly birders (are there any other kind?) (-: who gave us directions to a one singing further down the valley, I managed to see my 19th life bird of the trip on this last day!
Now you might be wondering what three of us found so fascinating to photograph in the river below this bridge in the Potamia Valley. Well........
......firstly a frog.
And then another frog.......
.......but finally, this rather gruesome sight of a terrapin on the back of a dead sheep! Not the nicest of basking spots I have to say!!!
Something just a bit more pleasant to see was this bunch of Lupins. I don't know whether Lupins are a native plant or not on Lesvos, but these were flowering in the middle of this valley and the sun shining through them was gorgeous.

After the Potamia Valley, we drove slowly along the East River again. The light on this day seemed to show the river at its best I think. The river was drying out, and the colours of reflected sky, algae and soil was a lovely combination.

As we drove along the East River, I'm glad I grabbed a shot of this Grandma cadging a lift on the back of this bike. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone riding side saddle on a bike before!!! (-:
And finally, we couldn't leave Lesvos without a final few hours at the Kalloni Salt Pans. As usual, the birds didn't disappoint here.









Thank you all very much for coming along on this birding trip to Lesvos with me. It's been so much fun to look back through my photos for these posts and it brought back great memories. I'm sorry it took longer to tell the story than I'd hoped!
Oooooops! I nearly forgot to include this video of those sheep being herded past our hotel on our last morning, so here's the url to click on to view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iUz4w0zAtc

7 comments:

FAB said...

A fabulous set of images from your last day on Lesvos. This series of posts brought back many happy memories, so thank you for putting in the effort Jenny.
BTW Lupins are very common throughout the region.

Anonymous said...

Great set of images!

Eve said...

Wow this is great Jenny...and yes I ALWAYS think if Mary when I see turtles sunning...but that terrapin on the dead sheep...I'll work hard at not remembering that image!!! Funny I got a dead critter on film today...for a post later! The Glossy Ibis are beautiful. Love everything...but the sheep!! hahaha
This was too much fun, NOT long at all, just a joy to read and reread!! Thanks Jenny Wren!

Rural Rambler said...

Jen the Squacco Heron is a beautiful bird and what a golden warm picture. The Glossy Ibis looks like a sports model in those beautiful colors! Love your shot of Grandma riding side saddle, looks like she has her Wellies on! It was fun Jen glad you had such a great time :)

Rural Rambler said...

I just watched the video of the sheep! I could wake up to that sound every morning :) Pretty cool.

Anonymous said...

A great finish to a great series of posts Jen.

Mary said...

Thanks for the turtles, Jenny :-) Your bird shots are awesome and I can tell that you had a fantastic trip. Going back over trip photos is almost the best part....sort of like reliving it again.