Morocco 2013: part 3, the people and places

A major part of the Morocco trip was the abundant 'local colour'. So it would be amiss of me to leave the people and places out.

 Agadir, seen from the Kasbah. The green space to the left is the site of the old city, destroyed by a devastating earthquake in 1960 and left as a vast necropolis ever since. 15,000 people, a third of the city's then population, were killed.

 The cascades at Izmeer, actually cascading this year!

Cyprus 2013

The trip report for our ten days in Cyprus is now available to download from the Wildlife Travel website, while the gallery is now fully uploaded to flickr.

Cyprus 2013, a set on Flickr.

Some images from a very photogenic Cypriot spring.

Cyprus 2013: day eight, Smygies

One last evening in Cyprus, with the news playing quietly in the corner of the room: dramatic times for Cypriots!

Much less dramatic for us, as we made our way down from the ridge of the Akamas Peninsula, via a well-earned taverna lunch.

Twenty five species of orchid, an as-yet-unidentified Tulip, a soaring male Goshawk, a Wryneck in the hand and a very friendly Ocellated Skink.

 Ocellated Skink

 The pale helice form of Clouded Yellow

 Wryneck

 Cytinus hypocistis

 Tulipa sp.

 Gladiolus triphyllus

Ophrys apifera var chlorantha

Cyprus 2013: day seven, Droutia

A day spend wandering the lanes between Droutia and Pittokopos.

New orchids came in the form of Anacamptis laxiflora, Ophrys israelitica and Ophrys iricolor, the latter an orchid I don't remember ever seeing in Cyprus before.

Yet more migrants were coming through, including yet another female Desert Wheatear on a ploughed hillside and some great aerial migrants heading north along the ridge: an adult Lanner was by far the best, slipping through low overhead, followed very soon after by a ridiculously early Roller, as well as a handful of Alpine Swifts with a single Pallid Swift, a pale phase Booted Eagle, two Cretzschmar's Buntings and a fly-over Short-toed Lark. An adult Bonelli's Eagle hanging around the ridge was probably one of the local breeding pair.

And some spectacular peas... maybe not as glamorous as the orchids, but easily as beautiful.

 Lathyrus gorgonei

 Lathyrus bletharicarpos

 Lathyrus annuus

 Lathyrus aphaca

  Vicia hybrida

 Vicia cypria

 Vicia laxiflora

 Vicia peregrina

Vicia villosa

Cyprus 2013: day six, a five wheatear day

Today we visited the historical sites of Paphos: a holy hermit's last resting place, the ancient ptolemic necropolis and the spectacular mosaics of the Paphos headland.

At Paphos, the most obvious result of last night's rain was a massive fall of wagtails: the headland was covered in flocks feeding along the paths and flushing in large numbers from the vegetation. Mostly Black-headed Wagtails, but with plenty of Blue-headed (at a ratio of about 1:20), lots of intriguing intergrades presumably on their way to Romania or the Ukaraine, and at least three male Grey-headed Wagtails, as well as plenty of White Wagtails and a couple of Tawny Pipits amongst them. Other migrants here were a pair of Short-toed Larks, a handful of wheatears and three lovely Cretzschmar's Buntings.

Earlier, we'd stopped in an area of orchards, where a small population of Tulipa agenensis just hangs on around the edges of cultivation, together with Muscari neglectum. 

Oh yes, and those wheatears... a roadside Cyprus Wheatear, a handful each of Northern and Isabelline Wheatears at both Tombs of the Kings and Paphos Headland, a male Eastern Black-eared Wheatear in the orchard at the hotel and best of all, yet another Desert Wheatear, this time a female on the barren 'beach' at Tombs of the Kings. Once again I was only carrying my 'plant lens'...

Isabelline Wheatear (yesterday, at the Sanctuary of Apollon Hylates)

Cyprus Wheatear (yesterday, again at the Sanctuary of Apollon Hylates)

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, this evening, in the hotel grounds

our male Desert Wheatear from earlier in the week (photo by tour participant Steve Pickersgill)

Another of Steve's photos: one of today's Cretzschmar's Buntings, at Paphos Headland

Muscari neglectum

Tulipa agenensis

an impressive display of Cylcamen persicum at the Tombs of the Kings