Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - March
Geoffrey G. Evans

This summer I was lucky enough to visit Cyprus and I was doubly fortunate to have as companion and guide the "resident ornithologist" Gordon Rayner, who placed his vast local knowledge at my disposal.

My first meeting with Gordon, and the local avifauna, took place at a Taverna near Limassol. During our "al fresco" supper Gordon pointed out some of the commoner local passerines such as Crested Larks, Pied Wheatears and Cretzmars. Buntings which were hopping about in the nearby scrub, while Red-rumped Swallows whirled above us, and a solitary Lesser Grey Shrike, perched on telegraph wires nearby, kept an eye on the delicious meze we were enjoying.

The following morning, after a brief look at the Akestiri Salt Lake (Where a U2 spy plane put up a flock of 19 Demoiselle Cranes), we walked round the Phassouri Reed Beds (PRB). These were alive with Warblers including Cetti's, Savi's, Fan-tailed, Spectacled, Sedge, Reed and Great Reed, some of the last two being of the greyer Eastern race.

Later visits to PEB produced other goodies such as Squacco Heron, Spur-winged. Plover; Penduline Tit and 'flava" wagtails of the Black-headed and Ashy-headed races. And during a morning's outing with the Cyprus Ornithological Society (all six of us, including, the British high Commissioner?!) on a Sunday in this same area, Little Egret, Ferruginous Duck, Slender-billed Gull, Marsh Harriers, a small flock of Dead Sea Sparrows and a Roller were seen.

No trip to Aphrodite's Island would be complete without a visit to the Turodos Mountains. There, amongst beautiful woodland scenery, we encountered

Crossbills, Short-toed Treecreepers, Hoopoes and the very beautiful and graceful Masked Shrike, whilst above us, set in a pure azure sky, Ravens and Griffon Vultures wheeled lazily.

My final adventure with Gordon was a visit to the Asprodromos reservoir near Paphos. Among the more interesting species seen on this truly memorable morning were White-winged. Black Terns; Marsh, Wood, Green and Common Sandpiper, Little and Temmincks Stints, Little-ringed Plover, Greenshank, Slender-billed Gull, Garganey and Spanish Sparrows - all in close u! And as we left I put up three Stone Curlews and the seven or eight Eleonora's Falcons in attendance disturbed a flight of about 20 Chuckkas.

On my last afternoon while sunbathing at a little deserted crook, and thinking of the long night flight to come, I was visited by just four birds: a kingfisher, a yellow-legged Herring Gull (Larus argentus michahellis) a Pallid Swift and, eventually, a beautiful male Cyprus warbler.