Spur-winged Plover, breed in small numbers on the Evros Delta and along the coast – stunning birds!

From Lake Kerkini we headed east, first to the excellent Kyveli Hotel at Kariofito, in the Rodopi Mountains, and then, via Porto Lagos, on to the Evros Delta, close to the Turkish border. In the mountains we explored the road which heads north from the hotel to the Forest Village (for details see Steve Mills’ book p110), now largely derelict. There was excellent birding along this road including Rock & Cirl Bunting, Eastern Orphean Warbler and five species of woodpecker, including Black – just south of the Forest Village. The following day we visited the various lagoons and salt-works in the Porto Lagos area, seeing a few late waders, flamingo, terns and gulls, before finally arriving at the Hotel Isidora, practically opposite the Evros Delta Visitors Centre. We had a day and a half to explore the delta, which is divided into two sections West and East – for which a permit is required, in advance.  We quickly discovered that the delta is vast and slow to circum-navigate but packed full of interesting wildlife – in addition to the many and varied birds, we had good views of Golden Jackal and Wild Cat. We also managed to squeeze in an early morning visit to the Dadia forest, taking the mountain road to the Kapsalo transmitter mast view-point. Here, we eventually caught up with both Black & Egyptian Vulture and Blue Rock Thrush.

Cirl Bunting were relatively common in the Rodopi Mountains – here an adult feeds a youngster

Rock Bunting were, however,  much less common – seen between Kariofito and the Forest Village

On the lagoons around Porto Lagos, Flamingo with a group of Greenshank and several Slender-billed Gull

Whilst birdwatchers are free to visit the western Evros Delta, you do need a permit, arranged in advance, to visit the eastern delta, close to the Turkish Border 

On the Evros Delta there were still a few migrant waders, including Wood Sandpiper

Distant Marsh Sandpiper – part of a group of 20 – 25 with just a few of the flock of 350+ Ruddy Shelduck, in the background

These distant Collared Pratincole were a delight to watch, hawking for insects over the flooded rice fields

Surprisingly, we only saw a couple of Purple Heron

Along the many tracks which bisect the Evros Delta, several Greater Short-toed Lark

and Calandra Lark

To our delight, on our first evening in the delta, this juvenile Great Spotted Cuckoo

One species we did see in reasonable numbers, both here and back at Kerkini, was Turtle Dove. Weird how the pattering on the coverts make the bird look out of focus!

Distant views of one of two Black Vulture seen at Kapsalo

On our last day in Northern Greece we had a long drive back from the Evros Delta to Thessaloniki – but we still managed to fit in some birding on route.. see my next blog for details!

We knew, when we were planning this trip, that we would be too late for Spring migrants, so our expectations for a week’s wildlife watching in early June were suitably modest. In the event Northern Greece turned out to be an excellent choice – during the week we racked up 166 bird species, plenty of butterflies & dragonflies, flowers, snakes, mammals and more.

We flew with Ryanair from Stansted to Thessaloniki and did a circular tour of the north east, from Lake Kerkini to the Evros Delta – using Steve Mills’ guide, Birdwatching in Northern Greece, as our bible. We booked all accommodation on-line or through email and were able to pay at most places with a card – there was reasonable access to ATM’s in the bigger towns. Hire car was booked through Ryanair with Hertz, who are in the terminal, with just a short bus-ride to the vehicle pick-up point. Petrol is an equivalent price to the UK but, due to the ailing Greek economy, there are fewer cars on the roads than you might expect, making driving in the countryside a pleasure (watch out for the pot-holes though!). People were very friendly, helpful and had enough English for us to get by. This is definitely a location to be recommend and we’re looking forward to a return visit soon.

Our tour started at Kerkini, a huge man-made lake, created in the ’30’s by the damming of the Strimonas river, covering up to 72 km sq. The thing you notice immediately about the surrounding area is the relatively low-intensity agriculture, with lots of uncultivated areas, rough grazing and overgrown hedgerows. As a consequence, lots of wildflowers, insects and birds – four species of shrike breed in the area, with Bee-eaters everywhere and Roller all feasting on the abundant prey.

Red-backed Shrike are common, with fewer Lesser Grey, and Woodchat – Masked also present

There were Bee-eaters everywhere!

Roller are well distributed, helped by the provision of nest-boxes, particularly around the Evros Delta, made possible by BirdWING (birdwatching in Northern Greece) – the conservation charity, set up by Steve and Hilary Mills

The lake is an internationally important wintering location for wildfowl of every variety but is critical important in respect of globally threatened Lesser White-fronted Geese.

It’s also the breeding location for pelican – with both White and the globally threatened Dalmatian, present in good numbers

Heron and Egret species can be found in abundance around the lake, along with both storks and Glossy Ibis

Lake Kerkini is an important breeding location for Pygmy Cormorant

I’ve never seen so many Great Crested Grebe – there were hundreds of breeding pairs

In the surrounding hills and mountains, which form the border with Bulgaria, there were plenty of raptors including a flock of 20-25 migrating Red-footed Falcon, several Eleanora’s Falcon, and a Golden Eagle.

Eleanora’s Falcon

In the next part, the birds of the Evros Delta and the Rodopi Mountains..