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| A Report from birdtours.co.uk |
GREECE 1998,
Roderich Moessner
This Report appears with the kind
permission of Bren McCartney of the Berkshire Birds Web Pages
I have just returned from my trip to Greece and since
there may be some other people travelling there this summer, here's my report.
This is a brief report of a trip (by bus, train, bike,
taxi and on foot) through Greece, August 5-15.
TINERARY:
- August 5: arrival Athens early morning. Taxi to Liosion
bus station. 0615 bus to Agios Konstantinos. 0900 ferry to Alonissos. Overnight
at Patiri.
- August 6: cycle tour to Gerakas at northern end of
island (40 km round trip). Hike near Gerakas.
- August 7: hydrofoil to Thessaloniki (cancelled at
second port -> ferry to Volos, bus Volos->Thessaloiniki); train Thessaloniki-Vironeia
at NE corner
- of Lake Kerkini. Hotel next to station.
- August 8: long hike in northeastern corner of Lake
Kerkini.
- August 9: long hike in mountains north of Vironeia.
Overnight train to Livadhia, from there taxi to Delphi.
- August 10: Delphi
- August 11: Bus to Agios Nikolaos. Long wait for ferry
to Eyio, which runs hourly in the evening but only every three hours in the
morning. Taxi to
- Diakopto. Evening hike up the gorge.
- August 12: Little Railway up the gorge from Diakopto,
hike from Mega Spilio. Train to Mycenae.
- August 13: Mycenae
- August 14/15: Athens
NOTES:
1) Ferry timetables are available from Greek tourist
offices, or, even better (since more complete and easier to use) at http://www.gtpnet.com/
Car ferries are a pleasant way to travel, the 'flying dolphin' hydrofoils
at twice the speed and price offer much worse birding and are frequently cancelled
in bad weather.
2) Taking taxis is cheap in Greece and makes birding
by public transport much easier. Unfortunately, taxi drivers are typically quite
dishonest and they usually tried to overcharge us by e.g. not setting the meter
properly (or at all) or driving unnecessary distances. This is especially a
problem for airport taxis. We found that complaining straight away usually helps
even though one driver got very aggressive. For more advice, consult travel
guides and the leaflet on taking taxis available from Greek tourist offices.
3) Long-distance buses are reasonably cheap and efficient.
The local ones require a lot of patience and connections can be time consuming.
It tends to be difficult to obtain reliable information on local buses, and
- if shared between 3-4 people - a taxi may be competitive in price.
4) Despite their frequent delays, trains are an excellent
means of transport: they are very cheap, are good opportunities for meeting
local people, and offer good birding along the way. Using overnight services
is relaxing and timesaving provided you take a sleeper at a very modest extra
charge.
5) Our experience was that booking rooms in advance
and first-come-first-serve are compatible in Greece.
6) The heat in summer makes a siesta inevitable.
7) The train from Diakopto into the mountains requires
advance booking in high season. We got off at the intermediate station and walked
up the hills on the west but we were too late (in the day and in the year) to
see anything of note up there.
SPECIES:
- 1) Great Crested Grebe
- 2) Little Grebe
- 3) Manx Shearwater (P. puffinus yelkouan) seawatching
from Alonissos (Akr. Marpounda)
- 4) Cory's Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) from
ferry to/from Alonissos ferry Ag. Nikolaos->Eyio
- 5) White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) >100
in flooded forest at Kerkini, viewed from mountains north of lake -
several seen in evening from eastern bank of Lake Kerkini - evening
seems best at this location
- 6) Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus) several
dozen seen from eastern bank of Lake Kerkini
- 7) Cormorant
- 8) Shag
- 9) Pygmy Cormorant common at Lake Kerkini
- 10) Little Bittern
- 11) Little Egret
- 12) Great White Egret
- 13) Squacco Heron
- 14) Grey Heron
- 15) Purple Heron
- 16) Night Heron
- 17) Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)
- 10)-17) all eastern bank of Lake Kerkini
- 18) White Stork common at Kerkini
- 19) Black Stork 6 in dried river south of Vironeia
- 20) Spoonbill common at Kerkini
- 21) Mallard
- 22) Garganey flooded meadow at Kerkini
- 23) Pochard
- 24) Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nycora) from eastern
bank of Lake Kerkini
- 25) White-tailed Eagle (Hiliaeetus albicilla) one
over monastery north of Vironeia
- 26) Golden Eagle one on way to monastery north
of Vironeia, three at Delphi
- 27) Lesser Spotted Eagle one attacking 25)
over monastery north of Vironeia
- 28) Buzzard
- 29) Sparrowhawk
- 30) Levant Sparrowhawk one in floodplain forest
south of Vironeia
- 31) Peregrine Falcon one at Kerkini
- 32) Eleonora's Falcon several from ship to/from
Alonissos; several on Alonissos
- 33) Kestrel
- 34) Pheasant
- 35) Quail calling near eastern bank of Kerkini
- 36) Coot
- 37) Moorhen
- 38) Little Ringed Plover
- 39) Snipe
- 40) Black-tailed Godwit
- 41) Common Sandpiper
- 42) Green Sandpiper
- 43) Wood Sandpiper
- 44) Greenshank
- 45) Black-winged Stilt river east of Lake Kerkini
flooded meadow at Kerkini
- 46) Black-headed Gull
- 47) Mediterranean Gull
- 48) Herring Gull
- 49) Whiskered Tern eastern bank of Kerkini
- 50) Feral Pigeon
- 52) Collared Dove
- 53) Turtle Dove
- 54) Cuckoo
- 55) Swift possible pallid swift at ferry stop
in Skiathos
- 56) Alpine Swift Delphi and Athens
- 57) Kingfisher
- 58) Bee-eater (Merops apiaster) common in north
- 59) Roller (Coracias garrulus) two from train
Thessaloniki-Vironeia
- 60) Hoopoe (Upupa Epops) common in dried-up
river near Vironeia' singles everywhere else
- 61) Green Woodpecker
- 62) Great-spotted Woodpecker
- 63) Syrian Woodpecker station of Vironeia
- 64) Crested Lark not uncommon in north
- 65) Sand Martin
- 66) Crag Martin in quarry north of Vironeia
- 67) Barn Swallow
- 68) Red-rumped Swallow locally common (e.g.
several at Kerkini and Mycenae)
- 69) House Martin
- 70) Yellow Wagtail
- 71) White Wagtail
- 72) Grey Wagtail
- 73) Red-backed Shrike
- 74) Woodchat Shrike singles near Kerkini one
at Mycenae northeast of archeological site
- 75) Lesser Grey Shrike very common along railway
Thess.-Vironeai common at Kerkini singles elsewhere
- 76) Golden Oriole common at Kerkini
- 76) Starling
- 77) Jay
- 78) Magpie
- 79) Jackdaw
- 80) Hooded Crow
- 81) Raven
- 82) Dipper in gorge near Diakopto (seen from
train)
- 83) Wren
- 84) Olivaceous Warbler two along east bank
of Lake Kerkini
- 85) Ruppell's Warbler (Sylvia ruppelli) ad.
male east of stadium, just outside compound, Delphi
- 86) Sardinian Warbler common
- 87) Subalpine Warbler in foothills near Vironeia
- 88) Spotted Flycatcher
- 89) Mediterranean Whetear common in foothills
north of Vironeia and at archeological sites in south
- 90) Stonechat
- 91) Blue Rock Thrush quarry north of Vironeia
archeological sites in south
- 92) Nightingale
- 93) Blackbird
- 94) Sombre Tit Delphi around archeological
site Mycenae northeast of archeol. site in gorge south of Diakopto
- 95) Blue Tit
- 96) Great Tit
- 97) Long-tailed Tit
- 98) Penduline Tit one at eastern bank of Kerkini
- 99) Rock Nuthatch one in quarry north of Kerkini
very common at archeological sites in south
- 100) House Sparrow
- 101) Tree Sparrow
- 102) Spanish Sparrow
- 103) Chaffinch
- 104) Hawfinch
- 105) Serin
- 106) Greenfinch
- 107) Goldfinch
- 108) Linnet
- 109) Cirl Bunting
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