An early start up into the foothills above Pareklesia to try and locate Cretzschmar's Bunting. It was sunny and bright , but with a very cold wind from the mountains . Despite covering what we thought were various locations the venture wasn't successful and we never even had a suspect in our sights. The truth was that there were virtually no birds on show and no accompanying song.
Back down to the lowlands and on to Lady's Mile where a few Caspian Gulls and a Slender billed Gull were present. A few Kentish Plover and an overflying flock of 40 Little Stints were on the farthest pool plus Common Swifts were beginning to come through. Eventually we drove across the sandflats and came out on the Bishops Pool road, making our way to near the Environmental Education Centre. from here we had a good view of most of the saltlake and counted at least 280 Greater Flamingos. Common Swift movement was in full swing with seemingly unending lines of birds making their way through.
We spent some time on the coast where a couple of Little Tern flew west and a female Black eared Wheatear showed well. All the flava wagtails of yesterday had gone from the cut fields so we went on to the Rabbit Farm pools. We met the "Howards" there and although birds were few the jokes were good !!! A single Greenshank and odd Collared Pratincoles were around and still the Common Swifts came through. Further time was spent around the Akrotiri area and, as we prepared to leave later in the afternoon, a couple of Gull billed Tern flew westwards through the military area.
Not a lot for a day's efforts with small birds being at a particular premium.
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