An early visit to the Phasouris reedbeds ( Akrotiri Reserve ) produced a Great Reed Warbler below the Tower Hide, a Savi's Warbler nearby and a singing Sedge Warbler a little closer to the coast. A small party of Turtle Dove sheltered in the reeds and a further 6 flew over before they themselves pitched into the reeds, as did 3 Purple Heron.
The Rabbit Farm pools provided views of 2 Temminck's Stint, 11 Little Stint, a Kentish Plover and a male Garganey as well as a selection of the commoner waders ( read regular ). Ruff numbers appear to fluctuate daily here and were currently down to 16. However, after the very wet winter period there are pools all over the place where disturbed birds might conveniently retire to !!
By this point, late morning, the wind had strengthened to Force 5/6 + westerly and we wondered if this might produce some birds over the sea. After about 20 minutes I picked up a very distant group of birds which were battling there way towards land. These turned out to be 18 Glossy Ibis , which took ages to get to the coast, but which finally made it and pitched into cover almost immediately they made it over land ! Minutes later 9 Baltic Gulls flew westwards along the coast. There is usually a marked passage of these in April but they were the first we had had.
A visit to Agios Georgios wasn't filled with many expectations as the wind was pretty strong by this point. The trees swayed around with the onslaught but we found a solitary Collared Flycatcher making the best of the conditions.
On to Lady's Mile ,where most of the waters held nothing, and the farthest, open lagoon was very exposed. Nonetheless we had several Kentish Plover and a single Little Stint. We retired to the first pool and spent quite a time studying gulls, namely Caspian and Armenian Gulls. Things finally clicked into place and will , hopefully, remain !!
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