Patara - SW Turkey

as part of the family holiday we drove the hour or so to Patara  Here is its history, It was an ancient Lycian city and not a roman as I initially thought Lycians. Of course I hoped for a few species of bird while we visited but I conclude that the intense heat made birding nigh-on impossible and of the few species seen only Woodchat Shrike and White Stork stood out.

Amphitheatre at Patara

 it is hard to believe that this whole stadium was hidden under sand and not discovered until the 1980s, that must have been some dune!



Matty climbs to the top of the Amphitheatre



                 and takes his seat



this must have been one of the posh seats as it has a back rest although the gentry of the time may have had silk cushions.

I wonder what this says....

Patara Bouleuterion (Counsel head quarters)

This is a replica of the origianl building that is now on show at the site, it has been rebuilt using alot of the original stone that had been preserved underneath the sand, however new stone made to match has been used to fill in the gaps

an Inside view

and looking from the outside in

Where columns once stood

and then rebuilt from fragments

part of the ancient city

and of course the White Storks

 

Inner Marsh Farm rspb

Just had  time on Sunday for a couple of hours across the county at Inner Marsh Farm (IMF)

The weather was miserable but a bit of fresh air never did any harm....

Only a couple of images and as the weather wasnt condusive to light and anyhow it was fairly quiet on the species count but a large flock of 200 Greylag geese greeted me at the reserve entrance

Black Tailed Godwits are usually in good numbers here, but even today only 80 or so were willing to put up with the, for the most part driving rain....

feeding, resting and preening

the Avocets have done well this year and here shows a juvenile with a parent

Other species on show were Little Egrets, Grey Heron, Teal, Mallard, Snipe, Greenshank and Redshank.

The Greenshank are a wonderful Wader species, unfortunatly today they were just out of photo range but here is one from another visit last year ..... even if it isnt quite showing off its green shanks.

just before leaving for home and close to IMF at Burton Marsh I saw this fella

At first I thought Little Egret but turns out to be a Great White Egret

and just to round off the mornings trip how about a couple of Marsh Harriers

a superb end to the morning

Sheltering from the heat

A simple image that could tell a thousand different storys...... this woman spent the afternoons in her doorway sheltering from the searing Turkish heat, down at floor level a little breeze was all the comfort she required during this part of the day.

Every Morning while collecting the freshly baked bread I always acknowledged her with a simple "hello" while she replied with a nod of the head

Juvenile Robin

This fella is from our resident robins third brood of the summer -  a bumber year indeed

SW Turkey

The first task was to keep this as the family holiday, with the second task of sneaking in some quality birding time without compramising our relationship

We stayed in Uzumulu, a lovely and generally unspoilt mountian village high above Fetihye. The apartment overlooks open fields and small Olive groves, with a backdrop of small pine covered hills.

A few trips out of the immediate area were to Koya Koy village, Calis marsh, Patara Beach and a two day trip to Ephusus and Pamukkale (future posts will be added for these wonderful places)

51 species were seen during the 10 days - of which 9 were life birds
30 Species were recorded in and around Uzumulu.
5 or so species were not positivly ID so will have to wait for another year.

The weather was incredibly hot and often reached 40-46 degrees celsius so as expected the hours between 9am and 5pm were generally quiet and would have been hard work if I had tried too hard.......

Around Uzumulu:
Housesparrow - as much as I enjoy my garden sparrows, these became a nuisance and were found everywhere and all of the time, they got me lifting the bins far too often.
Collored Dove - abundant in Uzumulu and in large numbers elsewhere
Olivecious Warbler - a smart pair in the village
Syrian Woodpecker - abundant in the village
Housemartin - Nesting around the apartment in large numbers
Masked Shrike - seen nr the apartment on 3 days
Alpine Swift - around the hills of Uzumulu and Kaya Koy
Woodchat Shrike - very showy and in good numbers around the apartment including some juveniles
Blackbird - abundant around the village
Greenfinch - in small numbers around the village also seen at Pamukkale
Jay - abundant everywhere and the atricapillus group with a uniform mantle & nape, black crown.
White Wagtail - numerous sightings around the village with a couple often coming to the pool side
Sparrowhawk - seen on 2 consecutive days over the village both times being mobbed
Swallow - abundant everywhere, try as I might couldnt get a Red Rumped
Great Tit - small numbers around the village and elsewhere
Short-toed Eagle - one seen above Uzumulu while on a mountain walk
Kruipers Nuthatch - a fairly reliable species seen in the village pine forests and a target bird for most visitors to Turkey
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - a single bird flew to the trees bordering the olive groves next to the apartment
Crested Lark - in good numbers at all sites but great to see and hear a group come to roost every evening in the field next to the apartment
Scops Owl - 2 or 3 heard around the village and although we found the tree that one was calling from a glimpse of it eluded me.
Cuckoo - 2 calling around the village on 3 seperate days
Lesser Whitethroat - a few around the apartment
Blue tit - a few around the apartment and in suprisingly small numbers
Goldfinch - some large roving flocks around the village and also at Pamakkule
Sand Martin - a single bird seen in a flock of Swallows next to the apartment
Yellow Wagtail - single sighting nr apartment
Common Buzzard - a single sighting over the village
Eastern Orphean Warbler - a single sighting nr the apartment
Raven - single sighting over the village and also at Pamukkale
Middle Spotted Woodpecker - a pair seen on the edge of the village and a real bonus as this species was not expected

Calis: - no scope with me so a few species got away as they were a little distant (although I have some camera record shots that I will go through later)
Little Egret - a single bird
Yellow Legged Gull - plenty (but the only Gull species seen)
Little Bittern - seen flying up the river canal and a few on the marsh
Hooded Crow - in good numbers and also over a few other locations
Common Sandpiper - good numbers on the marsh
Redshank - good numbers on the marsh
Spotted Redshank - good numbers on the marsh
Spur Winged Plover - single bird very mobile on the marsh
Coot - single bird
Kingfisher - single bird
Grasshopper Warbler - in the reeds along the embankments and riverways of calis
Reed Warbler - as above
Great Reed Warbler - as above

Pamukkale: other than those species already mentioned above
Hoopoe - flew right past me while walking on the site
Serin - single sighting at the nearby Hierapolis
Rock Nuthatch - in very good numbers.
White Stork- regular in the area especially in the town of Denizli
Wheatear - some confusion with these as they all seemed to have striking large buff edges to the tertials and primaries, but couldnt see what else they could be.
Isabeline Wheatear - a few in the Hierapolis area
Bee-Eater - 10 birds showing fantastically well behind an onyx workshop (part of the coach tour) nr Pamukkale

Patara: (again no scope)
Little Grebe - the only species I could reliably ID and were in large numbers
= a new life bird

Masked Shrike

Middle Spotted Woodpecker

Syrian Woodpecker

Woodchat Shrike - Juvenile

Woodchat Shrike

Little Bittern

Eastern Oprhean Warbler

Rock Nuthatch