Santorini Holiday

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since May! I have been walking and cycling locally and seen the usual local summer birds, but I haven't posted because I haven't taken my camera or seen anything unusual.

Anyway, here's a quick post about a trip to Santorini. By reading a couple of trip reports before going to the island, I knew it would be pretty poor for birds. This was a week's family holiday between 13th and 20th August based in Perissa in the south of the island. The island is geologically stunning, being a volcanic caldera, but it has little decent bird habitat. It is primarily vineyards or a dry landscape and bare rock. A couple of phone images here give the picture:

Looking north towards Fira - the most significant town on the island

I didn't take a camera to photograph birds as I wasn't planning on 'birding'. I did take a pair of binoculars but barely used them. The list of birds I saw while travelling around the island is below in the order I saw them. A paltry 17 species! However, I consul myself as only 19 species have been recorded for the island on the Bird List website so far this August!

Collared Dove
House Sparrow
Eleonora’s Falcon
Yellow Legged Gull
Feral Pigeon
Common Swift
Pallid Swift
Hooded Crow
Raven
Kestrel
Barn Swallow
Lesser Gray Shrike
Alpine Swift
Chukar
Scopoli’s Shearwater
Crested Lark
Shag

Just a few notes:

  • The lone Elanora's Falcon I saw was from the airport transport coach near the island's highest point, the 'mountain' shown in the image above.
  • Scapoli's Shearwaters passed by in small numbers on a very windy evening. We were on the southeast side of the island, and the wind was blowing from the southeast.
  • Swift species flew along the caldera edge at close range, making ID between Common Swift and Pallid reasonably easy.

I plan to blog a bit more now that autumn is almost here, but I am returning to work full-time with a new job next week! It's a job working from home, with occasional travel, but I plan to get out birding at weekends. However, the extra income will mean I can make more trips outside the UK, with Thailand next on the list of places to visit in January/February.

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