The holiday was a special offer on the Teletext, page 269, with  Travel House, it was named accommodation at the Hotel Mimosa in Sidari on a half board basis for £149 plus booking fee and transfer making a cost of £348 for 2 people, flying from Leeds Bradford at 6.30 a.m.  on the 2nd May.

On arrival we walked through Sidari looking for car hire prices, the cheapest was 184 euros from Value Plus (which is on the right hand side of the road as you enter the main street of Sidari). The car was actually booked from the Hotel and delivered to us on 3rd May giving us a full weeks car hire as we did not leave the resort until 5.00 p.m. on Friday 9th May.  The car was an air conditioned Opel Agila, which proved to be perfect when the temperatures rose!

Half way through the week we spent a night at Ag. Georgios in the South so we could have more time a Lefkimmi saltpans and Korission Lake.  Finding a room proved fairly difficult as it was so early in the season none of the rooms were actually open.  Rooms to rent for £10 are now a thing of the past and we paid 30 euros (about £21) at "Tzevenos", which is a pink painted building on the right as you near the crossroads in the resort.  The studio overlooked open fields and was perfect.

We had unseasonably hot weather!  By 10.00 a.m. it was 25 degrees and by noon every day the temperature was 30/33 degrees.  These temperatures made it difficult to spend as much time in the open as we would have liked. We were continually looking for shade and drinking plenty of water.

To sum up Corfu is a beautiful island with fields full of wild flowers, which attracts plenty of butterflies and dragonflies. We may not have had a huge species list, possibly because of the heat, but there are a huge numbers of common birds

These are the places we visited:

On our first afternoon we walked through the Main street, opposite the Value Plus Car rental office is a house with a lawn and a wrought iron fence, by the side of this house is a track going up through the woods overlooking the resort. On just this short walk we had 21 species of bird including Serin, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, swallow, House Martin, Spotted Flycatcher, Sardinian Warbler and Fantailed Warbler.

RIVER TYFLOS This river is on the Sidari to Roda road.  It is just on the outskirts of Sidari.  You can drive over the bridge and park outside the apartments "Potamus".  There is a path leading to the river.  Here we found Kingfisher, Moorhen, Nightingale, Buzzard, and Corn Bunting.

This lagoon proved to be very disappointing, with only Grey Heron and Yellow Legged Gulls present.  We had our first sighting of Red Rumped Swallow in this area, which proved to be common throughout Corfu.  If you drive to the end of the lagoon and over the bridge there is a vast scrubland with Corn Buntings, Goldfinch etc., you then reach some woodland and the area of woodland on the right holds a colony of Spanish Sparrows.  There is also plenty of Lesser Grey Shrikes, Woodchat Shrikes and Cirl Buntings.

We took the road leading to Marmaro and Giannades. Just through  Giannades we took a track up into the woods and saw Turtle Doves, Blackbird and other common birds.  We then dropped into the valley but were very disappointed with this area.  Plenty of Stonechats, Crested Larks, Whinchats and other common birds.   We travelled back to Sidari via the coast road as far as Pyrgi and then up into the mountains through Spartylas.  On route we were surprised to see come over the hillside a Montague's Harrier, this we presume was on passage.

We went to Cape Drastis but the only new bird was a Reed Warbler as you looked down from the road.

On the beach at Ag. Stefanos there is a drain and on the edge of the beach and in the drain were 2 Marsh Sandpipers and some Little Stints.

Above Doukades we saw some large birds of prey, but because of the distance were unable to identify them.

These saltpans were full of waders and terns.  Anybody wanting to bird watch in Corfu must spend time here; it is possible to get accommodation very near the Saltpans next to a beach side Taverna.  We had Purple Heron, Grey Heron, Squacco Heron, Spoonbills. Eleven species of wader, plus Common, Little, Whiskered, White winged Black, and Black Tern.  The surrounding area revealed Tawny Pipit and Hooded Crow.  It is possible to drive into the middle of the Saltpans near the pink unfinished taverna and use your car as a hide.  As you leave the saltpans take the first road on the left and this will take you round the edge of the saltpans and towards the sea. 

The access to this lake is marked as Issos Beach. You can turn right up to the lake and park overlooking the lake.  It is possible to get to the lakeside from other tracks, but it is a difficult journey and we were beaten back by mosquitoes!

On the approach we saw Red Backed Shrike and in the lake Little Egret and Sanderling, plus other waders.  We would liked to have spent more time at both the Saltpans and the Lake but the heat was just too much for us. 

Before we tell you about the birds we must recommend a small taverna in the village of Spartylas, this Taverna has a sign saying Grill Room and has a few seats at the front. But the views from the rear balcony are stunning.  We had a last day meal here for just 11 euros including Greek Yoghurt and Honey to finish with.  The lower levels on the Pantokrator have Golden Oriole, Cuckoo, Hoopoe, Rock Partridge, Sparrowhawk and Blue Rock Thrush and on the higher level you will see Black Eared Wheatear and Sub Alpine Warbler.

We had 80 Species of Birds in the week as follows: