Dermot Breen's Blog: Cyprus 3rd September 2018

Sunday, 3 February 2019

Cyprus 3rd September 2018

I headed over to Paphos Headland which is one of the more famous sites in Cyprus. It proved to be one of those famous sites that was a massive let down for me I'm afraid. The site is an extensive and very rich archaeological site and worth a visit for that reason alone. I had great difficulty finding the actual entrance to the site however as there were no signs whatsoever for the place. The entrance building looked like a toilet block and was completely incognito with the one sign saying what it was perfectly hidden by green scaffolding netting. I ended up walking around the entire 4km length of boundary fence trying to enter the site only to come back to where I originally started! When I finally managed to accidentally stumble across the entrance and pay the entrance fee the staff inside were particularly obnoxious and apathetic. There were a few interpretive panels with bird information but these were in behind locked gates at the lighthouse, kind of defeats the whole reasoning for putting them up in the first place. Combined with the absent of migrants the place definitely left a very bad impression on me! The best birds were actually picked up outside of the site along the coast when I was trying to get into the place which in the form of a small group of Greater Sand Plovers. These were a new addition for my Western Palearctic list. The other new WP additions from the trip included Spur-winged Plover and Marsh Sandpiper.
I headed inland from here and checked Kannaviou Dam, Evretou Dam, Pikni Forest, etc. and apart from a Bonelli's Eagle, Long-legged Buzzards and a Masked Shrike there wasn't much of note. I saw about three of the latter during the entire trip but all were either seen as I was driving or were very brief.