21st - 28th August - Pafos, Cyprus

We spent the week in Cyprus, staying in the the city of Paphos.  Paphos is on the southwest coast of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Inhabited since Neolithic times, it has several sites relating to the cult of goddess Aphrodite, whose mythical birthplace was at Old Paphos (Kouklia). New Paphos is the modern city that incorporates the harbour, and the ancient ruins of tombs, fortresses, theaters and villas at Paphos Archaeological Park.

However, for us it was a different holiday this time, we did nothing but enjoy the sunshine, the pool and the food.  We were staying in a lovely property on the beach to the north of the city of Paphos.  There was one attempt to walk to the castle, but it was far too hot and we turned back after making it only halfway.

It was also a week away form wildlife and I was left watching Swallows pass overhead, a few Hooded Crows around the property and Collared Dove and Woodpigeons around the pool.  The only butterfly I could definitely identify was a Swallowtail, but no pictures.

There were some taken though, mostly of the spectacular sunset.  Early on it was hidden behind the palms

At the weekend a firework display.

Later in the week a concerted effort to get the sunset right.

Standing proudly at the western end of Paphos’ harbor, Paphos Castle, also known as the Medieval Fort, has a rich history that dates back to the Byzantine era. Initially, the Paphos Harbour Castle was built as a fortress to protect the harbour; it underwent several reconstructions and additions over the centuries, reflecting the island’s tumultuous history under various rulers.

The castle, as it stands today, is essentially the result of the Ottoman restoration in 1592. The Western Frankish Tower, with its Venetian elements, is a prominent feature of the castle’s architecture. 

Paphos Castle has a storied past of resisting invasions. Thanks to its resilient construction and strategic positioning, it withstood the Genoese invasion in 1373 and remained intact during the Mamluk attacks in 1426. 

The castle’s defenders, led by the fierce Spanish mercenary Sforza, demonstrated exceptional bravery during the Turkish invasion in 1570, although the castle was eventually destroyed after 16 days of intense fighting.

Following the Ottoman repair and subsequent occupation, the castle served as a military stronghold with a garrison of 100 men and 12 cannons. 

With the arrival of the British to Cyprus in 1878, the castle ceased its military functions and was repurposed as a salt depot until 1935.

The sun slowly sinking into the sea behind the castle.

Later in the evening a crescent moon between the palm trees that surround the property.

So a completely different holiday, but very enjoyable and resting.

19th August - TLC Field and Old Winchester Hill, Hampshire

A combination of the weather and some jobs around the house delayed me getting out today.  The strato cumulus clouds that have been around for the last few days have lingered, keeping the sunshine away.  I was keen to get the last Hampshire resident butterfly of the year, the Silver Spotted Skipper, but this insect like warm sunny conditions, so I waited to see if the sun would break through.  It did, but then I saw a report of Osprey at Fishlake, I was debating with myself whether to go for the Osprey when another report came in, Wryneck at the Donkey paddock at the TLC field.  It was a no brainer, I was off for the Wryneck and was prepared to negotiate the seventeen speed bumps.

As I arrived there were Swallows on all the overhead wires, juveniles and adults chattering away, just like I was back in Somerset.

My relationship with Wryneck is not good.  As I walked up I was told it hadn't been seen for 45 minutes and no more was sure if it was still in the long grass or had flown away to the bushes.  I waited, we all talked, we searched the bramble bushes, but to no result.  In the end we all agreed it wasn't worth waiting and we all drifted away, Wryneck can go missing for hours, I know, so I wouldn't be surprised if it turns up tomorrow

Walking back to the car the Swallows were still on the wires.  This juvenile present.

An Adult Swallow in the dead tree.

And a juvenile House Martin amongst them.

An adult, note the streamers you see in the spring are now gone, the feathers broken through the trials of breeding.

Fortunately Old Winchester Hill was on my way home, so I was able to revert to my original plan and to go and look for the skippers.

I decided to not do my usual loop, but to head down the slope from the car park.  There had been reports from here, so I was hopeful.  I really didn't want to slog all the way to the south slope of the hill fort.

Walking down hill there were plenty of Meadow Browns and several Small heath buzzing around.

Chalkhill Blues were still around with several female looking to lay eggs.  This female though was nectaring.

A large Hornet was hunting around the old seed pods of the gorse bushes.

I reached the bottom of the slope with no sign of the skippers.  A small consolation was the Adonis Blue, with many electric blue males flying around and settling when the sun went behind the clouds.  The blue is stunning.

There were also a few Brown Argus, but they were a little faded.

I walked along the bottom path, searching the shorter grass areas, as I did I debated walking to the south slope, but I really didn't want to.  However I turned back to give the area at the bottom of the slope one more go and as I walked back there was a small insect pinging about, finally it settled.

At last a Silver Spotted Skipper.  It sat on the dead grass, showing off the distinctive markings, but frustratingly I couldn't see the silver spots that give it the name.

The problem with these skippers is that when you look through a camera view finder, you can;t see where they go when they decide to "ping" off the flower, you lose sight of them and I did of this one.

I continued searching and came across a settled Chalkhill Blue.

Then I found another Silver Spotted Skipper, but again it sat on the grass with wings open looking to get as much radiation as the sun was behind the clouds

Once again it pinged away and out of sight.

Most of the Chalkhill Blues were faded and damaged, but this one looked  as if it had just emerged.

I started to climb the hill on my way back to the car happy that I had seen the skipper, but a little frustrated that I hadn't got the shots I wanted.  I came across a small area of field scabious and sitting on one was another Silver Spotted Skipper and it was in a perfect position.

At last a view of the silver spots.

Walking back up the slope two Clouded Yellows were duelling as they tumbled down the slope, it certainly has been a good year for this species in Hampshire and the south.  My total for the year in the county is 44 and for the UK, 46. Maybe I have to think about some of the species I can't see in Hampshire next year

So my initial objective of finding the Silver Spotted Skipper was successful, but once again Wryneck had eluded me.  Will this be the year I finally managed to get some good views?  I won't be holding my breath.

18th August - Northney Paddocks, Hampshire

Northney Paddocks at this time of year appears to be a magnet for small passerines at this time of year.  I had never been, so with reports of Pied Flycatcher over the last few days and the fact that I had yet to see one in the county, decided to go first thing this morning.

Before walking around to the paddocks I decided to check the scrub along the Billy path to the entrance to the Oyster Beds. As I walked along the path there were good numbers of Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits, with a few Chiffchaffs in the bushes.  The tide was falling and a Little Egret fished just off the first oyster bed.

Oystercatcher and a couple of Curlew were on the exposed sea weed.

On the shallow pool alongside the path were five Redshank and a Kingfisher flew towards, perched on the fence then immediately flew off as I went to raise the camera.  There was a lot of activity at the back of the pool in the bramble and hawthorn bushes.  A group of Whitethroats, several Chiffchaffs and a nice Lesser Whitethroat.

I then set off to area I had initially come for, crossing the road and walking around the garage onto the footpath heading south.  I stopped at the left turn off the south path where it was possible to view the bushes around a concrete building.  There were plenty of Spotted Flycatchers, maybe five or six, it was difficult to count properly.  They would flycatching from the bushes.

Try as I might I couldn't find a Pied Flycatcher amongst them.  After a good search I moved on along the west east path.  A Wryneck was reported yesterday from the east end of the path, but it was almost birdless this morning with just a couple of Chiffchaffs in the trees.

Walking back the Swallows alerted me to a Sparrowhawk above.

It looks like an immature bird.

The Swallows actively mobbing the Sparrowhawk.

Walking back there was a footpath that came off the cross path heading south, this allowed a view of the bushes that couldn't be seen from else where.  A Green Woodpecker flew across and the Sparrowhawk returned, alerting once again the Swallows to attack.

A female or juvenile Redstart was showing in one of the Hawthorn bushes and there were Spotted Flycatchers once again.  Viewing the trees alongside the west east path a Flycatcher looked different.

Lacks any streaking and there is the brown area on the throat, I could also see a small amount of wing stripe.  Was this the Pied Flycatcher?

It moved and I could then see that it was, a rounder head, the wing stripe and a flash of white around the primaries and in the last photo the darker area beside the throat  I was happy it was a Pied Flycatcher.

Job done I decided to head home, I have work to do.

16th August - Titchfield Haven, TLC for Horses and Hooks Links, Hampshire

Back home, it was a start at Titchfield to meet Ian at the sea wall.  The original forecast was for a warm sunny day, but it was overcast with a chilly north east wind.  Off shore the terns were feeding and as the tide dropped the Common Terns were fishing in the shallow water.

This Common Tern silhouetted against the morning light, the light waves coming out as a dark foam.

A little later in better light hovering to fish, still in the shallow water.

From the sea wall we could see seven Cattle Egrets in the bushes, with the cattle close by.

Two Green Sandpipers flew around the scrapes and over towards Brownwich and as we walked back from the office a Greenshank circled the scrapes calling and then headed out across the Solent.  We went on to the reserve and checked the Meon Shore Hide.  For the first time in a long while it was almost silent, there were no Black-headed Gulls and Common Terns.  The Black-tailed Godwits were out on the beach leaving only the Avocet on the scrape.

We didn't stay long and soon left and decided to head to Warsash in the hope the Whinchats and Yellow Wagtails were still around the TLC for Horses field.

It didn't take long to find the Whinchat, but they were quite distant along the fence, this was the best image I could get.

Scanning across the field at the horses we could see wagtails flying up and around the horses, so we walked around the field to get a better view.

Still distant you can see they are all immature birds.

Keeping close to the horse.

Five Yellow Wagtails now.

The highest count on the ground, seven.

But when they flew up we counted 13, but they flew away and out of sight.

Walking back to the donkey field, there were more birds in the field.  A family party of Stonechat with this juvenile on the ground.

A Whinchat on the ground.

And finally an acceptable image of a Whinchat on a post.

From the TLC Field we walked down to the beach.  Walking towards the scrapes and pools I noticed a familiar shape on the foreshore, a Glossy Ibis.  It has been reported for just over a week now, but only one.  The question is:  Where are the others or is this a different bird?

Despite the overcast conditions, there was enough brightness to bring out the colours that give the Ibis it's name.

As we tried to get a little closer it looked up.

But was soon back to the work of foraging and feeding.

This looks like an adult bird, although there are some speckles on the neck.

Unfortunately there were people on the beach that didn't appreciate the Ibis and they came to close and it took off.  However this gave us the chance to see the colours in the wings.

It flew behind us and headed for the Meander Pools where it dropped out of sight.

Walking on we reached the gorse, fenced off with barbed wire and substantial posts.  

A nice looking juvenile Wheatear.

Then there were three juvenile Wheatears.

As well as the Wheatear, there was also a couple of Whinchat.  These though were a little closer than those at the TLC.

Some of my best Whinchat photographs.

Then the Wheatear returned and conveniently perched on the fence posts

Adult male and female and the juveniles the wheatear is always an elegant passerine to photograph.

More views of the Whinchat.

Once again the birds were all flushed by walkers.  I find it hard to understand how they can't see what we are looking at and show some caution, but no, they just walked past.

We decided to head back to the cars.  Offshore a Sandwich Tern headed up Southampton Water calling.  We flushed the Glossy Ibis and it flew around us once again before heading off to the scrape where there were a couple of juvenile Avocet.  We walked along the cliff path with Black-tailed Godwits on the mud and a single Curlew, while overhead a Kestrel.

From Hook we headed back to Titchfield Haven, the weather had not improved with a heavy cloud cover, but it was warm so we were hoping we could find the Willow Emerald Damselfly along the east side of the reserve.

Walking past the harbour there were plenty of Turnstones on the mud and amongst the summer plumaged adults was a juvenile, I don't recall seeing one in this plumage before.

Along the boardwalk were a few butterflies.  Mostly Speckled Wood and this Red Admiral.

And a Comma.

We headed to the Meadow Hide, with views across the meadow to the Frying Pan.  The Cattle Egret were around the water's edge, and I counted eleven, a maximum count being thirteen from a few days earlier.  Also on the Frying Pan were five sleeping Spoonbills, again hidden by the tall reeds and I had to stand on the seats to be able to count them.

A Great Egret flew up, showing briefly, we decided to try from the Knight's Bank Hide, but there the view was worse.  We walked back discussing and listening to music.  On reaching the start of the boardwalk, I found the Willow Emerald Damselfly, perched on a branch.

A dark metallic damselfly with white wing spots.  Only a recent colonist with it first being reported in East Anglia in 2009, but has spread rapidly, as far north now as North Yorkshire, west as far as Warwickshire and along the south coast.  It has become regular over the last three years here at Titchfield.

As side view.

And some close ups of the head and thorax.

We didn't get the weather forecast, but it didn't ruin the day, some great views of Whinchat and Wheatear, good numbers of Yellow Wagtail and the Willow Emerald at last.  Oh and of course the Glossy Ibis is back, well at least one of them.