Bee-eaters, thousands of them !!

 

This was, without doubt, the bird of the trip. We saw thousands and thousands of them. An unbelievable site and sound, one that we will never forget. They passed by every day at Akrotiri, waves of hundreds of them that never stopped coming. Everywhere we stopped we could hear them. Migration at it's very finest. Magical xx

A week in Cyprus

 

The Troodos Mountains

Sunsets at Cape Drepanum

Prickly Pears

Pomegranates galore 

Cape Drepanum. A few wheatears, chuckars, red backed and lesser grey shrikes and wagtails. The falls of birds here in spring were off the scale, not so spectacular in the autumn. 

Cape Drepanum - one of our regular evening visits, birds and sunset !

Simon at Pathos Headland - not a lot of birds so quickly beat a retreat and headed elsewhere before the heat of the day built up

The trees were ladened with olives

Latchi - what we wouldn't give to still be there right now !

Aspro Dam - the water was coming over the top of this when we visited in Spring

Cyprus Pine at the top of Troodos

Smokey - full of food and ready for an evening snooze

Little Ginger making himself at home, getting nestled in Simon's smalls ! 

The little gingers, adorable x

We started off feeding just one cat who we called Smokey. She obviously told all her mates as we soon had 5 cats visiting. They were skin and bone at the start of the week, pleased they were quite round when we left. 

Black Pine, top of Troodos Mountains

Birthday cakes from the local bakery. Five euros of absolute deliciousness !!

Happy Birthday Simon xxxxxxxx

A few birds from our recent Cyprus trip

 

Cyprus Wheatears

Yellow-legged Gull at Latchi

Lots of Yellow Wagtails in the salt marsh at Akrotiri

Isabaline Wheatear

Treecreeper up the Troodos Mountains

Spotted Flycatchers were plenty

A very distant Roller and a couple of Bee Eaters. We saw 3 Rollers, none of them close.

Cyprus Wheatears

Crested Lark

Jay at the top of the Troodos Mountains

A very distant Audouin's Gull

Coal Tit at the top of Troodos

Just a few of the birds we saw during our stay. The temperature was in the 30's every day which was excellent if you were round the pool with a posh cocktail, but not so good for birding. Yes, we have cracking tans! We managed around 100 species, nothing new, but we still had a fantastic week. Photography seemed to take back stage and we enjoyed actually looking at the birds, the scenery, the wine and we had one of the best holidays ever. Totally chilled !