The 6th was forecast to be the first decent day after rain and thunderstorms at some point over the previous few days. We decided not to chance setting up and instead drove over to Limassol. It was already raining before we arrived. We started off at the Zakaki hide where there had been some clearance, but reeds were already springing up fast. The water level was high and it was only possible to see Bluethroat along the roadside edge, there being no open ground in front of the hide. There we also saw Moustached Warbler and Water Rail. Penduline Tit was heard but not seen.
Water Rail
Cetti's Warbler
There was no prospect of driving around the back, the ground being so wet and we headed on to Ladies Mile to look at the gulls. Here there were many, many Blacked-headed Gulls on the pools. Chris managed to locate the Meditterranean Gull and there were big gull species too, Caspian, Armenian and Yellow-legged Gulls.
Armenian Gull
Shelduck
A flock of Greater Flamingoes
It was inadvisable to use the beach crossing due to the sand being very soft but we took the longer route and visited Bishop's pool, in the rain again, where the water level was just about the highest we'd ever seen.
Bishop's pool held Ferruginous ducks, Shoveler, Teal, Coot, Moorhen,
Little Grebe and a single Black-necked Grebe.
Moving on to Akrotiri marsh, the site continues to look dreadful behind the scaffolding used to fence out the birders. There are more cows than ever now and the area looked over grazed. The birds seen from the hide were limited to a couple of Water Pipits.
We also looked at the tall hide and pools put in for Ferruginous Ducks. It was as devoid of life as every other time we have looked there.
7th December
This being our last full day in Cyprus, we decided to return to Kouklia. Grahame joined us and a total of 72 birds were processed. The Serin were still in the area, and a flock of Greenfinch has roosted closeby. We had the usual few Blackcaps. However a couple of men came through the site with a pack of dogs, we counted eight but they were all over the place and we never saw all of them at the same time. At one point a hare came dashing ahead of five dogs. I (Denise) had rushed round pushing nets up but found, on checking them later, that we had a large hole in one of our 18m nets.
Totals: 63 (9)
Robin – 1 (2)
Stonechat - 2
Cetti’s Warbler - 5 (2)
Sardinian Warbler – 5 (4)
Blackcap – 10 (1)
Chiffchaff – 3
Spanish Sparrow - 1
Greenfinch - 12
Serin – 24
We spent the afternoon walking walking in Secret Valley. It was clear that the recent rain had severely damaged the track and brought a lot of material down from the cliffs. We saw a lot of Song Thrushes, Stonechats and Jackdaws with a couple of Black Redstart. No sign of either Blue Rock Thrush, a species we've seen there before or Wallcreeper although the cliffs at the far end of the valley always look promising.
8th December
Our flight wasn't until 6:30pm. On the one hand we could ring a few more birds if the weather was okay, but then we didn't want to be left with wet nets and bird bags and no way to dry them. We decided to do Kouklia one last time, possibly against our better judgement, this being a Saturday when more people have free time and following the dogs incident of the day before.
We put up a total of 42m. There was rain before the second net went up. After a pause we continued. We soon had a visit from a man and his dog who turned out to be the person farming the plot, now directly adjacent to where we ring. He was just seeing what we were doing and a very pleasant man. Later we were slightly alarmed by a truck coming down the track. Alarmed because the track is rarely used and one of the nets has guys that extend onto the track, and the net could be brought down if the guy were not seen by the driver. As it turned out it was the officer from the game fund that we had met in Polis. He had seen us and become suspicious. It's good to know that the game fund had patrols out looking for illicit hunting. He checked out licence thoroughly and hopes to join us when we return to Cyprus is the spring. We also found out that it is an offence to take a pack of dogs out, as we had witnessed the day before, and we should have contacted the game fund.
So we left Kouklia with the river running brown, wondering whether there will be any water in the spring.
Totals: 39 (4)
Woodlark - 3
Robin – 1 (1)
Cetti’s Warbler - 2
Sardinian Warbler – 1
Blackcap – 7 (1)
Chiffchaff – 1 (2)
Spanish Sparrow - 1
Goldfinch - 2
Greenfinch - 2
Serin – 19
We also looked at the tall hide and pools put in for Ferruginous Ducks. It was as devoid of life as every other time we have looked there.
It continued to rain into the afternoon.
There was supposed to be no rain after 2pm at Pafos and, having got back early, we tried a couple of nets by the sewage works. We had only got five birds when thunder began rumbling down from some rather dark and threatening clouds, with rain in attendance so we packed in at retreated into the dry.
Total: 5
Sardinian Warbler - 1
Chiffchaff - 4
7th December
This being our last full day in Cyprus, we decided to return to Kouklia. Grahame joined us and a total of 72 birds were processed. The Serin were still in the area, and a flock of Greenfinch has roosted closeby. We had the usual few Blackcaps. However a couple of men came through the site with a pack of dogs, we counted eight but they were all over the place and we never saw all of them at the same time. At one point a hare came dashing ahead of five dogs. I (Denise) had rushed round pushing nets up but found, on checking them later, that we had a large hole in one of our 18m nets.
Greenfinch
Totals: 63 (9)
Robin – 1 (2)
Stonechat - 2
Cetti’s Warbler - 5 (2)
Sardinian Warbler – 5 (4)
Blackcap – 10 (1)
Chiffchaff – 3
Spanish Sparrow - 1
Greenfinch - 12
Serin – 24
We spent the afternoon walking walking in Secret Valley. It was clear that the recent rain had severely damaged the track and brought a lot of material down from the cliffs. We saw a lot of Song Thrushes, Stonechats and Jackdaws with a couple of Black Redstart. No sign of either Blue Rock Thrush, a species we've seen there before or Wallcreeper although the cliffs at the far end of the valley always look promising.
The lake in Secret Valley
8th December
Our flight wasn't until 6:30pm. On the one hand we could ring a few more birds if the weather was okay, but then we didn't want to be left with wet nets and bird bags and no way to dry them. We decided to do Kouklia one last time, possibly against our better judgement, this being a Saturday when more people have free time and following the dogs incident of the day before.
We put up a total of 42m. There was rain before the second net went up. After a pause we continued. We soon had a visit from a man and his dog who turned out to be the person farming the plot, now directly adjacent to where we ring. He was just seeing what we were doing and a very pleasant man. Later we were slightly alarmed by a truck coming down the track. Alarmed because the track is rarely used and one of the nets has guys that extend onto the track, and the net could be brought down if the guy were not seen by the driver. As it turned out it was the officer from the game fund that we had met in Polis. He had seen us and become suspicious. It's good to know that the game fund had patrols out looking for illicit hunting. He checked out licence thoroughly and hopes to join us when we return to Cyprus is the spring. We also found out that it is an offence to take a pack of dogs out, as we had witnessed the day before, and we should have contacted the game fund.
A rather green looking Kouklia. The result of the recent rain.
So we left Kouklia with the river running brown, wondering whether there will be any water in the spring.
Totals: 39 (4)
Woodlark - 3
Robin – 1 (1)
Cetti’s Warbler - 2
Sardinian Warbler – 1
Blackcap – 7 (1)
Chiffchaff – 1 (2)
Spanish Sparrow - 1
Goldfinch - 2
Greenfinch - 2
Serin – 19