I awoke at 6.30 to news that the ASIAN DESERT WARBLER was till present. I was ...OFF! I usually travel for first light BUT I wasn't confident the Bird would stick judging from past records here. The down side of this dubious strategy is the Bird could have moved on before I arrived. The other problem could possibly be that no-one would be there. This isn't Britain!!!
The Limassol rush-hour traffic was extensive which put me back 30 minutes which meant I arrived at the Sea Caves at 9.30. I had a "pin" thanks to the WhatsApp and I could see a couple of Birders and a 4x4 in the distance. I made my way over and saw that it was Peter Bromley in the 4x4 on the phone. I waved and made my way towards the other Birder who turned out to be Pete Wragg. I'd met the former briefly at last Spring's DIEDRIK CUCKOO twitch at Lake Paralimni. The latter is a Spurn regular but I only really knew him to say hello too. Both were excellent company.
They told me the Bird had been mobile and fairly elusive but they felt confident it would re-appear. After around 15 minutes we picked it up at some distance. The Bird stood out in the bushes and could be seen clearly with the naked eye. It also had the habit of feeding on the tracks were it became far more difficult to see.
I'm still coming to terms with how remarkably BRIGHT the light is here, which can pose photographic and ID problems.I have just arrived from the East Coast of Yorkshire...in my defence!
Below are a selection of images of varying quality which will hopefully give you a flavour of the Twitch. It was great fun...
...and away...
I also added Spectacled Warbler and Cyprus Wheatear to the Trip List. A couple of Alpine Swifts flew over also.
Trip Total - 89 Species
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