A trip to the Greek capital Athens and the island of Kythira yielded some good times, lovely views, lots of laughs with new(ish) friends, and sightings of quite a few species of bird, invertebrates and plantlife we’d not all “ticked” before. Here are a few snaps of the various species:
Western Marsh Harrier, Circus aeruginosus
Birds
Alpine Swift
Barn Swallow
Bee Eater
Black Stork
Blackbird
Blackcap
Blue Rock Thrush
Blue tit
Booted Eagle
Cetti’s Warbler
Collared Dove
Common Buzzard
Common sparrowhawk
Eleanora’s Falcon
Great tit
Grey Wagtail
Hobby
Honey buzzard
Kestrel
Kingfisher
Lesser Kestrel
Levant sparrowhawk
Marsh Harrier
Peregrine
Raven
Red-rumped Swallow
Redstart
Robin
Sardinian Warbler
Scops owl
Spotted Flycatcher
Swift
Willow Warbler
Yellow-legged Gull
Butterflies
African Monarch
Blue-winged grasshopper
Cleopatra
Clouded Yellow
Dark Bush Cricket
European Swallowtail
Grayling
Large Tortoiseshell
Long-tailed Blue
Mediterranean Speckled Wood
Painted Lady
Red Admiral
Scarce Swallowtail
Skipper (European?)
Southern Meadow Brown
Two-tailed Pasha
Other invertebrates
Ants
Blue Darter
Cicada
Common Plume
Dragonflies
Egyptian Grasshopper
Hummingbird Hawk-moth
Oriental Hornet
Praying Mantis
Red-winged grasshopper
Silver Y moth
Small Dusty Wave moth
Striped Shieldbug
Turnip Moth
Violet Carpenter Bee
Plants
Almond-leafed wild pear
Carob
Cypress, funereal, male and female
Fig
Giant fennel
Giant Reed
Juniper
Kephalonian pine
Kermes Oak
Large Mediterranean Spurge
Lemon
Lime
Maiden hair spleen wort
Maritime pine
Mastika
Mulberry
Mullein
Norfolk island pine
Oleander
Olive
Oriental plane
Pomegranate
Portuguese laurel
Prickly Pear
Rock samphire
Sea daffodil
Sea holly
Sea squill
Sharp-leaved rush
Smilax
Spiny asparagus
Strawberry tree
Tamarisk
Tree heather
Umbrella pine
Vertebrates
Brown Rat (deceased)
Cat
Cattle
Dog
Fish
Goat
Lizards (No ID: brown/green, large/small)
Sheep
Scat
Goat
Sheep
Stone Martin
