Cyprus 2015

I love Cyprus in the Springtime: migrant birds are in prime breeding plumage and the weather is often perfect. We left Cardiff Airport at around 11.00h on 8 April for Paphos, returning late on 15th. Despite a strike by French air traffic controllers, we made good time. This was my fourth trip to Cyprus in the Spring, and the first as part of a family of three, so after a few tricky moments at first, we all had a great time. The weather was less stable than on our previous trips, but still extremely pleasant. We witnessed a 5.6 Richter Scale earthquake on the last day, (strongest in Cyprus for 19 years), and were about 10 km from the epicentre. Our building shook substantially, and food fell off shelves in nearby supermarkets, and a chandelier fell from a roof in a neighbouring hotel. I rented a mountain bike for the week, and made some wonderful rides to Mandria and Anarita using the GPS on my iPhone with offline maps. On 14th I was guided around Akrotiri and Anarita by Jane Stylianou who was outstanding with her knowledge of sites and with finding and identifying birds. On other mornings or late afternoons I would cycle to Ezousas river mouth or Paphos Archaeological Park. I saw some great birds, though had two bits of bad luck - missing 5 blue-cheeked bee-eaters at Ezousas on two days that I was there, and missing a confiding male hooded wheater at Paphos Archaelogical Park on the one day I didn't go there! Photos taken with the 1D4, 400mm plus 1.4x extender, landscapes with the iPhone.

Some landscapes

Over the Austrian Alps: the Alps as they should be seen from an Airbus

Austrain Alps