Family Holiday to Rhodes

This year’s family holiday was to the Greek island of Rhodes and the resort of Kolymbia. It looked pretty good for wildlife, there were a couple of different types of habitats for me to explore and it looked promising . There were a couple of olive groves along the road, a scrubby headland, a long pebble beach on one side and a small beach and cove on the other. With it being the middle of July it was very hot and in the mid thirties all week. There was very little fresh water in the area and all the streams I saw were dried up and the only fresh water I could find locally were in these small ponds which I think they must have been wells for the local houses. 

 

 

I was really surprised how small a list of birds I had for a week. I was there in July and I think at the right time of the year and on migration it would be a lot better. I did a couple of trips around the island and to the small island of Halki and this is my list of what I saw and where they were.

1.My first bird was the Scopoli’s Shearwater, I had big numbers off Kolymbia in the evening but they were a bit distant to tell if Cory’s or Scopoli’s. I normally saw about 60 to 70 birds but it wasn’t until my trip  to Halki I confirmed that they were definitely Scopoli’s Shearwater when I had about half a dozen from the ferry which were all a lot closer.

 

2. I saw a single European shag from the bus as we passed a bay, it was drying its wings in the sun near the ferry port for Halki at Kamais Scala.

3. On my first morning at Kolymbia I had four Little Egrets coming in of the sea heading inland and they  were the only birds seen.

4. I saw a single female Eurasian Kestrel near the resort of Kolymbia and this was the only sighting .

5. On a day trip to the Butterfly valley at Petaloudes I had a couple of Long Legged Buzzards which I had two days in a row. I also visited a church in the mountains and I saw one there too in a pine forest.

6. Yellow Legged Gull were very common and I saw them daily along the coast.

7. Audouin’s Gull, I only saw two and they were both on the island of Halki near the harbour.

8. Collard Dove were very common at Kolymbia.

9. Feral Pigeon very common around the hotel.

10. Turtle Dove were also seen twice seating on a wire by the road on the day of the trip to butterfly valley.

11. I also saw Alpine Swift twice on the headland near the hotel. There were two birds present and sorry for bad photo.

 

12. Pallid Swifts were seen most days and I had large numbers going into a cave when I was on a boat trip to Lindos .

13. I only saw Common Swift once and it was in the town of Rhodes in the evening when there were about 200 birds going to roost.

14. Crested Larks were fairly common on the headland and they were seen most days.

 

15. Bank Swallows were seen everyday in and around the hotel and were very common.

16. House Martins were also very common and were breeding in the hotel.

17. I had a single Crag Martin near the hotel and I also saw a couple near the ruins above the town of Lindos.

18. White Wagtails were seen most days in small numbers and were coming to the pool to drink.

19. Grey Wagtail was a nice surprise on one of my day trips to the seven springs and was the only bird seen all week .

 

20. Black Eared Wheatear were only seen on the island of Halki and I had three birds on the hillside above the town when one adult was mobbing a Woodchat Shrike on top of a bush. The other two  were juveniles and they were scratching about for insects under a bush in the shade.

21. Eastern Orphean Warbler was only seen on the island of Halki when there were a pair feeding chicks in a bush on a mountain side.

22. Eastern Olivaceous Warbler was fairly common and seen near the hotel and on the island of Halki.

23. Sardinian Warbler was seen or heard most days and was fairly common.

24. Blue Tit was seen most days in the olive groves near the hotel.

25. Woodchat Shrike was only seen once and on the Island Halki.

26. The Eursian Jay looked a little bit darker but it sounded the same and I saw good numbers in the olive groves.

27. Hooded Crow was very common in and around the area of Kolymbia .

 

28. I saw Raven once or twice near the hotel and I also had four together on one day. I also saw them  at Lindos and on the island of Halki.

29. Jackdaws were only seen on the island Halki where there was about thirty birds present including lots of Juveniles .

30. House Sparrows were very common around the hotel and they were very tame.

 

 

31. Greenfinchs were heard first and then seen in good numbers in the fields near the hotel and also in the grounds of the hotel and were seen daily.

32. I only saw two Goldfinchs sitting on a wire near the butterfly valley.

33 .I saw two Chaffinchs in the pine forest around the seven springs.

I think the only birds I felt I missed were Wren as I found this nest at seven springs and I flushed a pipit on the island of Halki which I am pretty sure was Tawny Pipit but sadly I could not relocate it. 

Other wildlife seen on my Trip.

I only saw two species of reptiles and they were Starred Agama Lizard which were reasonably common.

 

The other Species was Oertzen’s Wall Lizard which I only saw twice in the week.

 

 

Butterflies were in short supply but I had a couple of Eastern Bath Whites which were new to me and seen daily.

 

The Scarce Swallowtail was the most common butterfly and I saw them at a couple of sites and in double figures at the ruins at Lindos .         

Langs Short Tailed Blue but only seen twice.

This Skipper looks like a Mallow skipper and I saw them daily in small numbers.

This one give me problems and I put it down to either Levantine Skipper or Small Skipper and has time went on I was thinking it was Small.

 

I also visited the valley of the butterflies and as strange as it seems they are no butterflies at all. They are moths and ones which we are starting to get in Glamorgan in small numbers Jersey Tigers. There are over a million this year, they appeared a month early in June and you would think with all these moths there would be birds everywhere but the only birds I saw were three flying over the car park and I could  hear a distant Raven. It was the highlight of my trip to see them flying around like leaves blowing in the wind. They covered the tree bark and some of the rocks and I was lead to believe they are there to breed and only seen up to September.

I also saw good numbers of Oriental Hornets which was a new species for me, I saw them daily and it always amazed me how big they are.The first photo is of one of them feeding on a bee and it made very short work of it and the others were of a couple feeding on a dead fish. It was brilliant to get up close to them and my two brave daughters ran off and left me with a man and a woman who looked on in amazement .She said to her husband quick cause a distraction for me to escape and she was gone like a shot. I also found Polistes Gallicus Wasp and or a paper wasp there. Their nest is out in the open and I did not realize they are found in Southern England and also by the end of the week it had disappeared.

 

I saw and heard European Cicadas everywhere, they were very noisy in the morning and almost drowned out any bird song. It made you feel like walking through the olive groves with ear protectors on and I thought the dawn chorus was loud. I saw loads of larvae cases on trees and I found out the female Cicadas lays her eggs in twigs on trees and when they hatch they drop to the floor and burrow deep in to the soil and can go down two feet and stay there feeding on tree roots for 2 to 5 years. When I found them they had gone and this one had spiked itself on this thistle and was dead .

Southern Skimmers were seen at a couple of sites and a very smart dragonfly.

 

Small Skimmer and the only one I saw all week.

 

Red Veined Darters were very common and the most seen dragonfly.

 

Broad Scarlet Darter was only seen at a couple of sites .

I had not realised this was a new species until I got home and it’s a Violet Dropwing and when I enlarged the photo I noticed the damselflies and I think they could be Common Blue Tail and it just shows you got to look close. 
Female Violet Dropwing

I only saw two damselfly species in a week and most people think this is White Legged Damselfly. It’s one of those places I would like to go back to.