We took a trip to Paphos from 1-6 April, for our honeymoon. Naturally we did lots of hiking and birdwatching.
We arrived fairly late on the Wednesday, and first full day was the Thursday.
First site was Cape Drepanon, fairly close down the coast. Here we heard and saw European bee-eaters, little ringed plover, laughing dove, three yellow wagtails, a white wagtail, red-rumped swallow, barn swallow, Sardinian warbler, blackcap and hooded crow.
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| Laughing dove |
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| Little ringed plover |
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| Cyprus rock agama |
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| Bee-eater |
Next we headed over the misty mountains to the west end of Evertou Dam. A Bonelli's eagle flew across at mid-distance, soaring on flat wings, with pale streaked body, a small head and reasonably long tail.
Black-eared wheatear and northern wheatear were both present on the dam. Two long-legged buzzard were also seen in talon-locked free fall flight.
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| Black-eared wheatear |
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| Underwing of black-eared wheatear |
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Male northern wheatear
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| Northern wheatear |
On the way back we stopped off near to Kathikas. The grape growing areas with nearby trees supported numerous finches including serin, greenfinch & linnet. A long-legged buzzard circled overhead and landed on a cliff.
Friday and first stop was at Pikni forest. This seemed more of a botanists dream with the intense cover hiding most of the birds. It was a nice place to walk, with the forest trees mainly Calabrian pine and with abundant branched asphodel.
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Serin
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Calabrian pine
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| Distant Cretzschmar's Bunting |
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| Branched asphodel |
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| Hoary rock-rose |
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| Star-of-bethlehem Ornithogalum sp. |
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| Mallow-leaved bindweed |
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| Pyramidal orchid |
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| Shepherd's-needle |
Next stop was to Mavrokolympos dam. This was one of the highlights of the trip. We incidentally met a guided birding tour, who we loosely associated with half way along the dam. The guide helped us get onto at least four Cyprus warblers, an endemic species. We also noted two sand martin, five house martin, around 40 barn swallows and a red-rumped swallow. The raptors comprised kestrel, sparrowhawk, a long-legged buzzard, and to top it off two Bonelli's eagles, at slightly closer range. We also saw at least one woodchat shrike and three whinchat.
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| Cyprus warbler |
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| Cyprus warbler |
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| Cyprus warbler |
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| Chukar |
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| Cyprus wheatear |
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| Woodchat shrike |
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| Bonelli's eagle |
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| Bonelli's eagles |
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| Bonelli's eagle |
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Whinchat
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Next morning on the Saturday we visited Paphos headland. It was a sunny start and we saw two crested lark, around ten yellow wagtail including several seen as the black-headed 'feldegg' subspecies, nine red-throated pipit, a white wagtail, two common sandpiper, one northern wheatear and one Isabelline wheatear. Kestrels were breeding on the lighthouse.
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| Crested lark |
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| Common sandpiper |
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| Kestrel |
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| Red-throated pipit |
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Red-throated pipit
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Red-throated pipit
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| Isabelline wheatear |
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| Isabelline wheatear |
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| Isabelline wheatear |
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Isabelline wheatear
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Isabelline wheatear
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| Isabelline wheatear |
After getting soaked by a heavy shower we headed to Asprokremmos Dam. Here we explored a copse of trees on the south-west of the reservoir. Between the showers we observed a redstart, a nightingale, Sardinian warbler, corn buntings, eastern Bonelli's warbler, a hoopoe in a tree, five tree pipits, two pied flycatcher, two crested lark, a collared flycatcher, alpine swift and swift.
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| Tree pipit |
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| Hoopoe |
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| Collared flycatcher |
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| Redstart |
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| Redstart |
On Sunday we started at a picnic site at Androlikai, in the olive groves. Which we reached via rugged roads. There was another collared flycatcher, eastern bonelli's warbler, lesser whitethroat, willow warbler, hoopoe, two crested larks and a zitting cisticola. A nightingale was heard singing. A long-legged buzzard was seen as was a distant marsh harrier.
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Olive groves
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| Eastern Bonelli's warbler |
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| Collared flycatcher |
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| Marsh harrier |
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Naked-man orchid
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| Loose-flowered orchid |
Then onto Smigies trails. This hiking area supported at least nine serin, including ones with close views drinking in a stream that ran through the picnic area. There were three Cyprus wheatears seen, a collared flycatcher, and a kestrel.
A restoration of juniper forest is underway there, and plant species seen included Phoenicean juniper, abundant hoary rock-rose. Also recorded two orchid species comprising a dark purple flowered Serapias sp. and a variety of bee orchid Ophrys sp.
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| Smigies Nature Trail |
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| Juniper restoration |
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| Juniper restoration |
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| Cyprus wheatears |
We then went to the Kathikas Nature trail, up in the mountains. We recorded one pied flycatcher and two black redstarts One long-legged buzzard was seen soaring over the valley, and a peregrine interjected entering its air space. Three Cyprus wheatear, a flyover serin, Cetti's warbler, nightingale, whinchat and kestrel were observed.
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| Long-legged buzzard |
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Peregrine and long-legged buzzard
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Long-legged buzzard and peregrine
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| Black redstart |
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| Black redstart |
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| Black redstart |
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| Pied flycatcher |
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| Pied flycatcher |
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| Cyprus wheatear |
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Cyprus wheatear
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| Cyprus wheatear |
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Cyprus wheatear
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| Whinchat |
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| Whinchat |
The last day we had a free morning so visited Cape Drepanon. Here we saw Spanish sparrow, good numbers of yellow wagtails with approximately 40 black-headed ssp. feldegg and 15 blue-headed ssp. flava. Around 30 yellow-legged gulls congregate around an offshore island, where three grey herons tried to land but initially got ushered away from the island by a trail of gulls. An Isabelline wheatear was noted along the coast, as were two crested lark, five red-rumped swallow, 20 barn swallow, one pallid swift, one tree pipit, a laughing dove, hooded crow, kestrel and nightingale.
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| Yellow wagtails at Cape Drepanum |
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| Cyprus wheatear |
All in a great trip, and enjoyable honeymoon. Here is to married life!
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