Saturday 22nd September and a wet and windy day saw us driving up to Heathrow Airport for the start of our holiday to Turkey and Macedonia. The weather precluded any views of red kites along the way but I did see a small covey of red-legged partridge in a field by the side of the A303 somewhere in Wiltshire.
We flew to Istanbul on Sunday 23rd September and arrived to blue and sunny skies and the first birds I saw as we landed were hooded crows, magpies, jackdaws (some showing distinct pale half-collars of the eastern race soemmerringii) and yellow-legged gulls all feeding on the grassy areas by the runways. It was getting dark as we arrived at our hotel in Beyoglu (the very lovely Pera Palace Hotel) but the next morning a look out from our balcony added house sparrow, laughing dove and Alpine swift to the bird list.
With sunny skies and pleasant temperatures we had a walk around some of the sights of Istanbul and along the way I saw a lesser whitethroat with great tits in pine trees at the Mosque of Selim I, a brief view of a flyover white stork, shags fishing by the Galata Bridge as we enjoyed a beer as the sun was setting and a pygmy cormorant flying high up The Golden Horn. Butterflies were also flitting about too - red admiral, southern comma, mallow skipper (?), blue sp. and white sp. - and it was good to see a few hummingbird hawkmoths too.
Lesser Whitethroat
White Stork
Shag
Southern Comma
Mallow Skipper?
Mallow Skipper?
The next day was a complete contrast with grey skies, spells of heavy rain and wind but we carried on regardless and caught a ferry up The Bosphorous to Kanlica on the Asian side of the city. The trip wasn't long enough at just over an hour but I did get some good views of black-headed gulls and cormorants and also the bird I really wanted to see - Yelkouan shearwaters - which were moving up and down The Bosphorous in small straggly flocks. Yelkouan apparently means wind chaser in Turkish which really sums up shearwatering well but the dull light and distance meant I could only get some poor record shots.
Yelkouan Shearwaters
Yelkouan Shearwaters
Despite the weather we had a good day, visiting the Khedives Villa at Kanlica for lunch, enjoying some delicious yoghurt for dessert at a Kanlica cafe right by the waterside while watching Yelkouan shearwaters passing by and marvelling at the beauty of the Beylerbeyi Palace.
Cormorant
Yellow-legged Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Wednesday 26th September and another cool and grey day with the odd shower didn't hinder our plans again and we visited the very beautiful Dolmabahce Palace where starlings were feeding on the grassy areas in the gardens, Alexandrine parakeets gave brief flight views between trees and variously aged and plumaged yellow-legged gulls loafed around on the waterfront including a delightful 1st winter bird munching on a drowned rat.
Hooded Crow
Yellow-legged Gull with a drowned rat for lunch
Yellow Legged Gull
Despite the weather we had a great time in Istanbul but it was time to head back to Ataturk airport for the next stage of our trip, a flight to Skopje in Macedonia.
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