Maroneia

This was my favourite visit of the trip (I think...). It was warm, the air filled with the calls of Hoopoes, Nightingales and the purring of Turtle Doves. There were aromatic herbs and abundant invertebrates. New bird species perched on tree tops and the Aegean sparkled. Travelling to the site we passed through Olive Groves and the roadsides hosted colourful weeds. There were numerous archaeological sites as the area has been occupied since the Neolithic and is well preserved.  Birds included: Rufous-tailed Bush Robin, Black-eared Wheatear, Lesser Grey Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Alpine Swift, Red-backed Shrike, Cirl Bunting, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Tawny Pipit ...the list goes on! 

Olive Groves.

Excavations...

Cistus.

Bee Eater.

Walking down the track to the coast.

Lovely scrubby vegetation.

Looking out to Thasos.

Painted Lady.

Violet Carpenter Bee and Poppies.

A splash of colour.

Seed heads....

Grape Hyacinth.

Looking inland.

Rockrose sp.

The Aegean.

Coast.

Lesser Kestrels

Our first stop of the day was a visit to Mega Daukato, to see the Lesser Kestrels. It was nice to have a poke round a village too - some very productive gardens - especially the Broad Beans. 

Guard Dog ....one of many.

Lesser Kestrels on the wires.

There were about 20 Lesser Kestrels ...

The Lesser Kestrels nest under the old roof tiles - sadly they can't nest under new style tiles, so their existence is threatened as rooves decay and tiles are replaced.

Levant Sparrowhawk. 

And finally he accepted we were there and stopped barking. 

Spur-winged Plover

One of Greece's rarest breeding bird species is the Spur-winged Plover. It's plumage is striking. Generally it lives in marshes and freshwater wetlands, so it looked rather out of place on a traffic island! A great way to end a long day with a lot of travelling ...time for the hotel - which was very nice!

 

Into Greece...Falakro Mountain

Falakro means bald mountain ...and at a height of 1700m it certainly was. On the way up we saw Rock Partridge and then at the top, Alpine Choughs, Water Pipit, Rufous- tailed Rock Thrush, Black Redstart and Northern Wheatear....but it was the flowers that I really enjoyed. 

Towards the summit...

The ski station ...Skiing used to be really important to the Bulgarian economy, but now the snow is only reliable in January and February, so the infra structure still remains ...presumably the same story here, if not worse for Northern Greece. 

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush.

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush.

A barren landscape - but if you look closely you can see the Alpine Choughs with their bright yellow beaks.

Alpine meadow.

Yellow Crocuses.

Alpine Squill and Cordydalis solida - Solid-rooted Fumewort.

Alpine Squill.

Solid-rooted Fumewort.

Centaura montana - 'Amethyst in Snow'.

Three-toothed Orchid - Neotinea Tridentata

Early Star of Bethlehem.

The yellow Crocuses.

Barren - and I would have loved more time here!