tours
Birds & Insects

For many years now, Lesvos is a renowned birdwatching destination. Of course while birdwatching you are subjected to the total experience of the rich fauna and flora of the island.

The Dragonflies and Damselflies you see on the bogs may look beautiful and delicate - but don't be deceived! They are really smart and are some of the fiercest predators around. Their larvae terrorise other tiny tots in the wetlands for up to three years, eating anything that crosses their path. When they become adults they take to the air, where they catch other flying insects. Of course, they themselves can become prey to birds such as the skylark.

In 2005 Hibiscus Travel, introduced an NEW Tour to the island of Lesvos, in the above subject to be lead by John Bowers who is an expert in the field. Sadly it was cancelled due to lack of sufficient interest.

In the intervening time, John Bowers has gathered the pertinent information and authored a book “The Dragonflies of Lesvos”. The book will be published soon. The tour will become available again after the publication. In the meantime please let us know if you are interested to take part in such as tour.

 

TOUR LEADER

John Bowers is a professional environmental economist who has just retired from the University of Leeds. He has been making regular spring visits to Lesvos for over twenty years. He discovered the importance of Lesvos for bird migration and produced the earliest reports on the Island (a collection of them is available for consultation at the Hotel). Originally he was based at Skala Kallonis but when the village was developed as a resort and hotels built over the adjacent wetlands, he moved to Skala Polichnitou where he has been since 1995. (See his Report for that year). He is currently studying diurnal migration of raptors in Lesvos. A paper on his 2004 observations is available as a download on this web site

As well as watching birds, he has studied the dragonflies and butterflies of the Island. His interest in dragonflies goes back nearly forty years. Agreement on the creation of the BDS (British Dragonfly Society) was initially reached at a dinner at his house. On Lesvos he has located the sites of several rare dragonflies and has published a paper on the identification of one of them. His interest in Lepidoptera goes back even further. He operates one of the longest running urban moth traps in the UK, the Headingley Moth Trap. Its data forms the basis of a recently published a paper on declining numbers of macro moths. 

John is the founder and President of Friends of Green Lesvos

(http://www.greenlesbos.com/),

an NGO for the conservation of the environment of the Island. It successfully petitioned the Greek Authorities last year to halt the infilling of the wetlands of the Gulf of Kalloni.

LEPET & FRIENDS OF GREEN LESVOS

In September 2005 a formal Mutual Statement of Collaboration was signed by

• John Bowers (The Chairman of The Friends of Green Lesvos ) and
• Dimitra Balkizas ( Owner of Madonna Studios & Hibiscus Travel, also Chairperson of LEPET * )

Together they will continue to work for Natura 2000 status for the Gulf and on a range of other environmental protection issues.

* LEPET is a Lesviot non-profit making organisation working towards establishing Lesvos as a destination for alternative tourism & conservation of the Lesvos environment). LEPET was the financial sponsor for the publication of the Sunflower Edition Walking Guide:  “Landscapes of Lesvos”.