The birdwatching season of 2003 (April – May) at Lesvos was not like any
other. Some "unusual" events confirmed the opportunities for rewarding
birdwatching at locations/sites at South Lesvos. Over the years the alleged
experts, who favoured the better-known sites at Skala Kallonis, Central Lesvos,
have largely overlooked these sites. We hope that the birding reports for the
2003 season will help the "word" to get about.
As I very often have been saying rewarding birdwatching at South Lesvos sites
has been quietly taking place over the years by independent birdwatchers. The
only thing that has not taken place concurrently (for various reasons) is the
dissemination of information to those that want to know by those that were in a
position to inform the birdwatching community.
Please note that before 2001, there was scant information published about the
"rich" birdwatching opportunities at South Lesvos. The little information
available mislead the reader to believe that birdwatching at South Lesvos was
inconsequential and dare I say troublesome, in the greater scheme of things.
Since 2001 the Vatera Specialists have started the campaign to alter this false impression and present the full picture, by publishing independent birding reports from South Lesvos in this web site. This valuable information has been disseminated to other birdwatching sites and links have been established. This naturally will continue until our message gets through to all that would appreciate such information.
Here are some of the above mentioned unusual events (not necessarily in a priority order):
Richard Brookes was heard saying at Skala Kallonis that "….some of the best bird sightings this year happened at Vatera…." It remains to be seen, whether this conclusion as well as all the information from the Birding reports that were send to him during 2002 and the new birding reports (2003) that will be send to him shortly, will ever be included in the Lesvos Update 2003.
Richard Brookes visited Vatera in early May (rare event) to check out reported sightings of Tree Sparrows breeding together with House Sparrows at Almyropotamos ( West River – Vatera ) near the chapel of St Ekaterini and Crag Martins at the Vourkos River (East River – Vatera ) at the abandoned building site of the Skafidas Hotel.
Overcrowding at the well-known birdwatching sites at Skala Kallonis (and not only) frustrated many birdwatchers and group guides to theextend that they are allegedly considering alternative base options elsewhere for next spring’ s birdwatching tours.
Birdwatchers who were directed to the Napi Valley in search of the Olive
Tree Warbler were very disappointed at the lack of sightings. It appears that large numbers of
Olive Tree Warbler found it more hospitable to stay at Almyropotamos (West River) at Vatera, where they were seen consistently and in large numbers from the 20th of April to the 15th of May.
To the consternation of many, for the second year running, the hotels at Skala Kallonis were overbooked. This lead to a number of booked and fully paid up customers being shuttled between different accommodations. But even worse some other birdwatchers ("charter flight deals"), were re-located to accommodation at Skala Eressos, W.Lesvos, which is much to far from the best sites for birdwatching and nature walks (wild flowers/orchids ) at Lesvos.
Incidentally a section of a birdwatching report (referring to one day’s birdwatching - 06.05.2003, at the Wetlands of the Municipality of Polichnitos ) and written by a much esteemed regular British birdwatcher, who for a number of years uses Skala Kalloni as his base) "winged" its way to me, for inclusion in this web site. This information may well appear attributed to the author, in a "well known" publication regarding birdwatching in Lesvos or it may not. For reasons of etiquette we will not publish the name of the author, at this time. However we intend to do so at a later date.
The report confirms what some of us have been saying for years, and it is included in this web site, in the exact manner that it was written by the author.
