Sicily in Autumn Naturetrek Tour Report 18 - 24 September 2018 Marsh Sandpiper Mediterranean Skipper Mandrake The Geometrician Report and images by Luca Boscain Naturetrek Mingledown Barn Wolf's Lane Chawton Alton Hampshire GU34 3HJ UK T: +44 (0)1962 733051 E: [email protected] W: www.naturetrek.co.uk Tour Report Sicily in Autumn Tour participants: Luca Boscain and Jonathan Mycock (leaders) with 13 Naturetrek clients Day 1 Tuesday 18th September We met before sunrise at Gatwick where Jonathan, one of our tour leaders, gathered the members of the group. Then we took off with a slight delay and we landed at Fontanarossa airport, in Catania, almost on time. After the collection of luggage, we met Luca, our local guide, at the exit. The leaders collected the two minibuses, then we drove to the south for about an hour, along a comfortable motorway, towards the Case del Feudo, in the wonderful cultivated countryside of Belvedere, not far from Syracuse. Here we were welcomed by Yeasin, who took care of us during all the week, and we got our rooms. The Case del Feudo is a rural group of houses of Sixteenth-century origin that has been restored and readapted to be an “agriturismo” in the middle of an agricultural estate of about 40 hectares. Here are cultivated organically lemons, oranges, almonds and grapevines, from which fruits come delicious homemade jams and sumptuous wines such as Nero d’Avola, Sirah and Moscato, tasted in abundance during the week. A light lunch based on pasta, aubergines and other tasty local vegetables, eaten under the shade of tents in the flowered patio of the Case, refreshed us to perfection, before we left for our afternoon exploration. So we reached the Capo Murro di Porco, the “nose of pig”, that is the most prominent point of the east side of Syracuse province. Going through a luxuriant marquis of Dwarf Palms and Mastic, we saw Northern and Black-eared Wheatear, Whinchat, Sardinian Warbler and Zitting Cisticola, all watched comfortably through our scopes. To have available a lot of pairs of eyes allowed to not loose Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel and Marsh Harrier, crossing over, and, at the same time, to notice some peculiar examples of micro-fauna, including Italian and Sicilian Wall Lizards, Cone-headed and Red Band-winged Grasshoppers and a Broad Scarlet dragonfly, but also nice flowers like Mandrake, Sea Squill and Myrtle. Arrived at the lighthouse, we did some seawatching, while the sky was taking a threating deep grey colour: some Yellow-legged Gulls, Sandwich Terns, Scopoli’s and Yelkouan Shearwaters were all spotted. In the evening, we were delighted by the first samples of authentic Sicilian cuisine by Madame La Greca: risotto with zucchini, a lovely creamy meat and some almond pastries. Loud Scops Owls and Moorish Geckos animated the dark of countryside night. Day 2 Wednesday 19th September We met with most people at 7am for a pre-breakfast walk round the Case del Feudo estate: some fallow fields hosted loud Zitting Cisticolas and Crested Larks, while in the orchards Sardinian and Cetti’s Warbler were particularly abundant. We noticed also some migrants like a Turtle Dove, two Blackcaps and two Lesser Whitethroats, while by telescope we managed to have good views of Common Buzzard and Kestrel. © Naturetrek December 18 1 Sicily in Autumn Tour Report After breakfast we headed south, along the motorway, till Avola. From here, after some shopping, we continued on a secondary road to the Saline di Marzamemi. It was a recent addition to last year’s trip plan, but it proved to be once again particularly rich, because it was one of the few bodies of water of the south-eastern coast to not had got completely dry at the end of summer. From two different viewpoints we scanned the wetland, watching many species of waders side by side: Ringed, Little Ringed and Kentish Plovers, Temminck’s and Little Stints, Bar-tailed Godwit, Spotted Redshank and Ruff. Especially welcome were the observations of a Black Stork, five Caspian Terns and a small flock of Red-rumped Swallows, passing over. Kevin, particularly good on dragonflies, also spotted Island Bluetail, Southern Darter and Lesser Emperor. Then we walked a couple of hundred metres by the shore: the colourful hedges of flowers along the Marzamemi beach hosted tens of Painted Ladies, a few Long-tailed Blue butterfly and a Scarce Bordered Straw moth. After almost two hours under the sun, it was lovely to sit inside a gelateria with air conditioning, enjoying an Italian gelato! Further on we stopped for a while in the picturesque harbour of Portopalo, but we couldn’t find anything more than tens of Yellow-legged Gulls. At lunchtime Luca and Jonathan prepared the picnic in front of the wonderful beach that separates Pantano Longarini from the Mediterranean sea. For the afternoon we had a guided visit to the Pantano Cuba, that was recently bought by a German foundation, “Stiftung Pro Artenvielfalt” in order to protect the area from poaching and abuse. We met the kind Paolo and Nino who work there, listening the history of the project and the endless battle against the illegal activities there. It was a pleasure to hear what they have achieved so far: in few years they have managed to enclose all the area to prevent the entry of poachers, to plant hundreds of trees, to put artificial nest and drinking pools for birds, woodpiles for insects, etc, ending with the main recent goal, the stopping, for the first time ever, of illegal dredging of the seasonal river that connects the lake with the sea. With this operation, the Pantano Cuba has maintained its water during all the summer and was now plenty of birds! During two hours of walking, we scanned the lake, finding amazing densities of egrets and herons, together with waders and ducks and, among the common species, two Caspian Terns, some Marsh Sandpipers and a mysterious dark egret. It might be a hybrid between Western Reef and Little Egret, or maybe the never- confirmed dark morph of Little Egret, because the shape of bill and neck were exactly the same as the Egretta garzetta around. In the evening, after another glorious dinner at Case del Feudo, the moth trap was set in the garden. Day 3 Thursday 20th September Before breakfast, we were surprised by the number of moths attracted by the trap! More than 35 species were represented, including Grass Eggar, The Geometrician, Spotted Sulphur, Devonshire Wainscot, Mediterranean Brocade, the gorgeous pink Eublemma cochylioides and many more. 2 © Naturetrek December 18 Sicily in Autumn Tour Report We left at 9am and we drove once again south, to reach the beautiful reserve of Vendicari. The sky was rather cloudy at the beginning, so the efforts to find reptiles along the walls were rather unproductive: we spotted various Italian Wall Lizards and a single Moorish Gecko, but only Luca had a glimpse of an Ocellated Skink. We walked in the shade of Eucalyptuses till the first hide: there the water level was higher than usual and so the mud wasn’t exposed. We spotted a lot of Grey Herons and Little Egrets on the ruins of an old building, some distant Spoonbills, and Little and Black-necked Grebes. Then we walked into the reedbeds and later in the salty garrigue, following a very civilized new path with footbridges. A feature of salty habitats is that a lot of plants don’t bloom in spring, but in autumn, so we enjoyed the beautiful purple of Sea-Lavenders and the yellow of Golden Samphire. The flowers attracted plenty of insects and we noticed Eastern Bath White, Mediterranean Skipper, the bluish bee Bembix olivacea and the black wasp Scolia hirta unifasciata. When we arrived at the shore, we had a look to the tuna factory that featured in an episode of ‘Inspector Montalbano’ and at the funny balls on the sand, the “egagropili” produced by the Neptune Grass, while a small flock of Flamingoes crossed over in the sky. In front of the further hide appeared an amazing bonanza, with hundreds of birds on the mudflats, in the water and on the far shores of the lake. We spent a good two hours scanning: among Shelduck, Shoveler, Mallard and Teal we found Garganey, Pintail and six or seven Marbled Teal, while among Black-headed and Yellow-legged Gulls we spotted Slender-billed, Audouin’s and Lesser Black-backed Gull, Gull-billed, Sandwich, Caspian and White-winged Tern. Very abundant, also, were the shorebirds, with the presence of Pied Avocet, Curlew and Marsh Sandpiper, Bar-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Little Stint, etc. We had lunch under some shady canopies of a bar, in order to enjoy a delicious series of local speciality foods: a variety of toppings, including olives, pesto, honey, tuna, aubergines, etc, on bruschetta bread. The forecast for the afternoon predicted thunderstorms, but the sun came out, so we decided to go to the Syracuse archaeological park, called “Neapolis”. Driving north, the weather got worse quickly and, when we arrived in Syracuse, there was a short but intense shower. We fortunately found shelter under some thick Holm Oaks in the garden, where Luca gave us a quick revision about the history of the city, going from the Greek colonization, to the rise of Roman Empire. When the rain stopped, we visited the Greek Theatre, with its amazing view to the gulf and the fresh artificial waterfall of the Nymphaeum, on the top. The walk into the Latomie garden, to the famous Ear of Dionysius, and next to the Roman amphitheatre, offered us the opportunity to add to the week’s list some British common species, such as Robin, Jackdaw and Common Starling, that are not frequent at all in Sicily.