Lesvos - a cracking island!



Lesvos - green and wooded in many places

I have just returned from a great trip to the Greek island of Lesvos in perfect time to coincide with peak bird migration. The island lies just 7 miles or so off the Turkish coast and as birds follow the coastline northwards, they tend to pass through the island, often stopping to refuel before moving on.

The island is rapidly becoming well known by the bird watching fraternity and the only tourists I bumped into had an array of binoculars, telescopes and long lenses attached to cameras, immediately identifying them as “birders”. I consider myself a bird watcher rather than a birder – the later always seems to be in a hurry to move onto the next site to acquire another “tick”, whereas I am happy just to pootle about looking at the flowers (which where spectacular) and butterflies, as well as the birds. Having said that, I did meet many relaxed, pleasant folk, from numerous different countries, who were fully enjoying the wide array of wildlife associated with this undeveloped gem of an island.

I have always found April the most amazing time to visit the Mediterranean as it is so green and vibrant at this time of year, before the long hot summer days of constant sunshine turns everything to various shades of brown. It was a treat to constantly hear the rattling song of the Corn bunting from almost every vantage point, whilst gently purring away in the background came the summer sound of Turtle dove, two species that are in real trouble here in the UK. You only need to take a look at the little fields of poor quality, weed filled crops to see why they still thrive on this island.

I will undoubtedly return!!