Clayheads on Tour in Cyprus - Tuesday 19th April

Up at 06-00hrs but it was much cooler (17C) and I immediately regretted leaving my fleece in my hotel room. First stop was Cape Drepanum, to the north of Paphos. We parked up by the small harbour first, seeing a pair of Cyprus Pied Wheatears and a Common Sandpiper. In the fields on the headland itself, we had at least five Ortolan Buntings, four Tawny Pipits and 8+ Yellow Wagtails, of which at least two were Grey-headed, and 5+ Blue-headed.

Above - Ortolan Bunting on Cape Drepanum

We still hadn't seen CYPRUS WARBLER yet, and after careful checking of all the information I had bought out with me, we headed to Mavrokolmpos Dam. We pulled in by the dam itself and walked down to view the bushes on the dam slopes. We had a singing male Cyprus Pied Wheatear, a Woodchat Shrike, and eventually we had 5+ Cyprus Warblers in the area, located by most birds singing and behaving quite territorial to each other. Relieved by getting another of our target birds, we walked over to the other side of the dam, and had a CHUKAR fly over and perch on a rock. We also had Kestrel, Great Tit and Magpie in the area.


Above - Male Cyprus Pied Wheatear


Above - Cyprus Warbler



Above - Chukar

Mavrokolympos Dam