Work Trip to Corfu

I had a 3 day visit to Corfu and knew that I had nearly one full day to get out and about to do some birding.

I arrived at my hotel which was located 18km south of the capital, Corfu Town against a backdrop of wooded hills.

After dumping my bags I had a couple of hours before meeting for dinner so took a walk up a steep gradient road to get a feel for the area.

The first impression was not promising. Although there were more Hirundines than I has seen for a long time - House Martins, Swifts, Swallows and a few Red Rumpred Swallows - the only other birds I saw were House Sparrows, Greenfinches, Goldfinches and Great Tits. After over an hours walking the only other bird I had added was Sardinian Warbler.

Having a really early start that morning and with little to inspire me I called it a day.

The next day was meetings with a 2 hour time window after lunch so I decided to give it another try and puffed and panted up the hill again!

The first decent bird was a Willow Tit sitting on a telegraph wire which caught me by surprise and by the time I had my camera ready, had gone - better though!

I walked further this time and came across a rough path across a clearing by the side of the road. There were numerous butterflies including Common Blue, Gatekeeper, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady and a single Scarce Swallowtail. There were also very pretty orchids too.

High above were a pair of raptors which I am fairly sure were Buzzards.

I walked a little further and saw a Woodchat Shrike but it was a little distant and then had two birds fly past me and into a tree. One came to the top and I had my first Winchat of the trip.

Time to walk back and as I got nearer the hotel I glanced a Spotted Flycatcher which sat close to the road.

On my last full day -Monday - the hotel had arranged for me to have a hire car. I had originally planned to go to the mountains in the North of the island but after chatting to the car hire lady, I found this was going to take a couple of hours. She recommended a lagoon area called Lake Korrision which was only about 20 minutes drive from the hotel. Research before I had travelled meant I also knew of the Lefkimmi Saltpans which were in the far south but about 45 minutes from the hotel so I decided to do both.

On arrival at Lake Korrision there seemed little on the lake itself though I did get good views of Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper and Kentish Plovers.

I parked up and it turned out that the lagoon was seperated from the beach by a sandy area full of bushes and a few reeds. I had a couple of target birds in mind. The first was Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and although this turned out to be numerous they skulked in the bushes I was fortunate to download its all to my phone so had no doubt about ID but could not get a photo. Still lifer number one! Another bird I had only seen once before - Great Reed Warbler was also present.

As I walked further a stunning male Woodchat Shrike sat patiently on a bush.

On the ground there were a couple of larks which I am sure were Greater Short Toed as I could rule out obvious options such as Crested immediately. However, they flew off as soon as I tried to get a better view.

I did get a quick glance of a Wheatear though and also sitting on the top of a bush a Lesser Great Grey Shrike - lifer number two!.

The bushes abounded with Goldfinches and Greenfinches.

I decided to move on but was a bit gutted that I had not seen my second target bird when suddenly two flew into the bushes. Great views but not great photos of a Black Headed Bunting - lifer number 3!

The drive to Lefkimmi took me through pretty villages and on arrival there was a small cark park and some disused buildings with loads of sparrows including Italian Sparrow.

The saltpans were vast and without a scope, birding was going to be challenging.

The area is renowned for a small colony of Whiskered and Little Terns. I managed to see both (whiskered gave me lifer number 4) but they roosted at a distance. The Little Terns were a bit more obliging and one or two fed near enough for photos.

Waders were much the same but I did add Little Stint and Black Winged Stilt to my list.

By now I was baking hot and although I could see loads of Little and Great White Egrets at a distance it was clear that without a scope I was not going to get the best out of the location so I left for the hotel.

That night, after dinner I was sitting on my balcony and heard a really unusual owl call. I wondered whether it could be Scops Owl which are quite common and after listening to the call on my ipad it was a definite. Under my own rules I did not add as a lifer as I could not loacte it but great to hear nevertheless.

Only an hour the following morning before my flight and a quick walk round the hills behind the hotel gave me nothing new bird wise but a White Admiral was a lovely butterfly to finish my trip.

Overall a not particularly impressive 51 species but with a few new birds I was delighted with Corfu.