Saturday, April 20, 2019

Saturday, 20th April......migrants still trickling in !

An early trip to Lady's Mile produced little other than numbers of Common Swift over the adjacent heath. All the Akrotiri marsh sites produced nothing that was new, but it was pleasant walking around in the warm sunshine. Rabbit Farn pools produced 3 Little Stint, 7+ Collared Pratincole  ( a noticeable increase ), a few Wood Sandpiper and Ruff and low numbers of Black winged Stilt. I suspect the Spur winged Plovers, based on the aggressive actions of the assumed male , are nesting on site , particularly as I then saw the other bird appear to "descend " on a nest. Despite a "watch" we had nothing new so we went along the coastal track.

The farmer had cut a couple of fields of grain crop, the straw from which was left lying out . Here we found around 200 flava  wagtails, mainly Grey headed types,  but with fewer Blue headed and only the odd feldegg  present. It was great simply parked next to the field watching them frantically feeding within metres of us. Odd Red rumped Swallow and Sand martin fed above the fields along with more numerous Swallow and Common Swift. A Great Spotted Cuckoo spent time in a nearby bush and gave great confiding views and then , later , we found a couple of Tawny Pipit nearby .

Despite searching a few other locations we had nothing new. With the wind rising yet again, a common feature of recent afternoons, our visit to Agios Georgios showed the Woodchat Shrike still present in its favourite spot , but with a Hoopoe providing good views whilst feeding n the open field surface.

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