An inspection of the Lady's Mile area didn't , at first , give much of an impression of things having arrived in any numbers. Moving across the salt lake, towards Bishop's Pool and beyond, it was obvious that some common migrants at least had arrived with various Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat, and Spotted Flycatcher being in evidence and a single Black eared Wheatear in the village even.
Agios Georgios was alive with birds with Masked and Red backed Shrike, Common Redstart, Nightingale ( in partial song ), Wood Warbler s, a couple of Willow Warblers, Whinchat, Spotted and Collared Flycatcher and a very distinctive song about which the jury is currently in session ( but which I'm convinced of the answer ). I only had a very brief glimpse of the bird but remain happy ! (Keith and his wife regaled us with accounts of recent visits to the area when they had clearly hit lucky having seen Barred Warblers and Black headed Buntings on occasions when we were off elsewhere ).
On to the Akrotiri wetland areas which, apart from three Black tailed Godwits which fed voraciously throughout the 45 minutes we were on site, held very little else.
Sadly the time had arrived when we needed to return to the hotel as my colleague leaves shortly and things of one sort or another needed to be tied up. I've still more time in hand so will have to see what goodies might yet arise ! It turned out to be extremely tranquil in the confines of my room at the hotel, given it was Easter Sunday, which, in turn, allowed me to get these Blog entries up to date and plot and plan ahead !
Comment........I'm firmly convinced the bird in song was Olive-tree Warbler , which I've heard in various places previously. Some questions arose concerning the possibility of it being Great Reed Warbler, but I believe the cadences and structure of that species' song is more contrasting and that of Olive tree Warbler, whilst just as harsh , is contained within more of a band and exhibits less of the extremes . Describing bird song is a minefield and each of us relates both to the description and reality in different ways. But there we are.........
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