Lesvos flights - 2010

Updated 23/01/10

DIRECT FLIGHTS

As last year, many are already experiencing difficulties obtaining cheap flight-only deals to Lesvos for 2010.

I strongly recommend you book via your local agent due to difficulties with online booking (read on).

First Choice and Thompson merged their operations in summer 2009, so you now need to book your package holiday or flight only with Thompsonfly online or via your local Thompson agent.

Thompsonfly flight schedule to Lesvos is already online. They are advertising a schedule beginning on 15 April 2010 through to mid-October. But booking a flight is proving nigh on impossible! If you have difficulty booking online I can only suggest you contact your local Thompson agent or travel service.

Thompsonfly Gatwick to Mytilini, Lesvos schedule - click here.

Thompsonfly Manchester to Mytilini, Lesvos schedule - click here

I've been told that one local agent told enquirers that there were no flights to lesvos next spring. On contacting me I furnished them with the flight info and the agent found the flights! Click on the Thompsonfly flight schedule above for flight numbers and times to pass on to your agent.

The other shock is the cost. At 10/01/10 charters were quoting around £480 per person return! At the same time you could travel return via Athens for around £285 pp - see below.

FLIGHTS VIA ATHENS

There are other options available, but these require a flight change in Athens.

NOTE - 23/01/10 - Aegean have just changed their flight schedule again, and you can no longer fly from UK to Lesvos on the same day with Aegean. See below for other carriers.

You can fly to Athens with other carriers and link up with the Aegean Lesvos flight on the same (e.g. with BA from Heathrow). The main advantage of this option is that you're not necessarily tied into the Thursday flight programme of the charters with other days, inc. Saturday, available. I know a number of birders who have already switched. Detailed flight info - see below.

Budget options include easyJet to Athens from Gatwick, Luton and Manchester. Onward flights to Mytilini are availalbe with Aegean (see below) and Olympic airlines. Olympic also offer flights to Athens and flights on to Mytilini.

Your best bet is to use search sites online or speak to your local agent and see what they can do for you!

Some suggested flights via Athens -

British Airways (tel. 0844 493 0787)

Heathrow (LHR) to Athens (ATH) - cost at 23/10/03 £150-200 return

Thurs, 22 Ap, 30 Apr, 6 May, 13 May 2010

BA640 - dep. Heathrow (LHR) 0820, arr. Athens (ATH) 1400 (allows 5.5 hrs before connecting Aegean flight to Lesvos (see below).

BA632 - dep. Heathrow (LHR) 1150, arr. Athens (ATH) 1735 (allows 2 hrs before connecting Aegean flight to Lesvos (see below).

Athens (ATH) to Heathrow (LHR)

BA641 - dep. Athens (ATH) 1445, arr. Heathrow (LHR) 1640 (allows 5.5 hrs before connecting Aegean flight to Lesvos (see below).

BA633 - dep. Athens (ATH) 1905, arr. Heathrow (LHR) 2100 (allows 2 hrs before connecting Aegean flight to Lesvos (see below).

Aegean Airlines (tel. 0871 200 0040)

NOTE - 23/01/10 - Aegean have recently changed some of their flight times and you can no longer fly between Uk and Lesvos on the same day.

Athens (ATH) to Mytilini (MYT) - cost at 23/10/09 €150-225 return

Thurs, 22 Ap, 29 Apr, 6 May, 13 May, 20 May 2010

A3254 - dep. Athens (ATH) 1400, arr. Mytilini (MYT) 1450 (time change - was dep. 1300)

A3256 - dep. Athens (ATH) 1800, arr. Mytilini (MYT) 1900 (time change - was dep. 1940)

Mytilini (MYT) to Athens (ATH)

A3251 - dep. Mytilini (MYT) 0730, arr. Athens (ATH) 0820.

A3255 - dep. Mytilini (MYT) 1520, arr. Athens (ATH) 1610 (time change - was dep. 1425).

My own flights booked on 23/10/09 with BA and Aegean via Athens came out at £292.36 (a saving of £107.64 on Thompsonfly at the time). In early January Aegean Heathrow-Athens-Mytilini return were costing c.£285 compared to charter prices of c.£480.

The Dragonflies of Lesbos - a review

The Dragonflies of Lesvos
by John Bowers
Published 2008
ISBN 978-960-930703-1
The Friends of Lesbos / http://www.greenlesbos.com/
£19.99 from UK retailers (or €15 from Green Lesbos in Skala Polichnitou when on the island).
Available from Friends of Lesbos. All profits are donated to Friends of Lesbos.


Dragonflies are a much loved group of birdwatchers, myself included. They occur in many of the habitats birdwatchers visit so get noticed. In recent years there has been an avalanche of new dragonfly books covering both Britain (including my own Watching British Dragonflies) and Europe (including the excellent Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe, Dijkstra, K-D B & Lewington, R. 2006).

As a dragonfly enthusiast I have found dragonfly watching on Lesvos somewhat frustrating. This is mostly my own fault as my trips tend to be focussed on guiding birdwatchers around the island at times not ideal for observing dragonflies (i.e. before many species are on the wing!) and there is only limited scope on a birding week to spend watching other wildlife!

What is surprising about Lesvos dragonflies is that so many species occur on what is essentially a pretty dry island. Many of the species present are true dry area species which have developed to take advantage of seasonal freshwater areas. As most dragonfly watchers know, water is needed largely to oviposit eggs, with most of an adult dragonfly’s life spent away from water feeding and roosting. Few species rely on water bodies for food.

The Dragonflies of Lesbos is a much needed guide to the species found on the island. It is essentially a privately published work and the sole project of the author. The 92-page guide is slim in format (220mm x 112mm) and is made up of six chapters: what are dragonflies; dragonfly habitats; some dragonfly sites; identification of dragonflies; a guide to identifying dragonflies on Lesvos; and the conservation of dragonflies [on Lesvos]. A single appendix lists the species recorded on Lesvos. In addition there are 26 photographic plates including 17 depicting 45 species.

The author has visited the island on numerous occasions and has also drawn heavily on Wolfgang Lopau’s (German biologist) knowledge of the island’s odonata as well as his excellent “Die Libellenfauna der Insel Lesbos” (The dragonfly fauna of the island of Lesbos) (Lopau, W. 1995. Naturkundliche Reiseberichte (Heft 3). Gnarrenburg 1995) from which the list of species for the island in the books appendix is produced.

Odalisque, Achladeri, Lesvos, Apr 2002 © Steve Dudley

The most useful aspect of this guide will be to point observers in the right direction to see individual species on the island. Some species are easily seen when wandering around, but for others, specific site information is a real bonus. The site guide section (14 pages) is excellent. No detailed maps are provided but there is enough in the text to help you get by and locate many of the sites (and latitude and longitude coordinates will assist those with a GPS or you can enter them into Google Earth to produce your own maps before you travel – note that the available maps for the island lack coordinates so will be of no use in this respect). The one map produced I presume is meant to have the site numbers detailed on it, but these are missing so it is rendered useless. Species for each site are also given. There is a useful table listing each site and what species occur in late May and late September. Whilst useful, most birdwatchers visit in the first half of May so many species may not be on the wing during their stay. The details on habitats and flight periods within the individual species accounts is also very useful as both of these can vary for insects on small islands from information given in more mainstream or general European guides.

The photographic plates should in no way be used as a sole means of reference for field identification. This should be achieved using the Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe. The photographs are useful in depicting different species but vary in overall quality (in both the taken image and reproduction). Some photos are excellent but others are very poor and would have been better omitted.

Whilst this is a very useful book, it is however a hugely frustrating one to access and read. This is due largely to the fact that the book has been produced by a single individual who’s primary interest appears to be dragonflies (I’d say an odonatist more than simply a dragonfly watcher) and a small society with no or little publishing experience (I speak here as publisher).

Firstly the layout is rather amateurish and could have been significantly improved by a good designer (critical for a successful field guide in my opinion). Secondly there is no index, no page numbers listed in the contents page and little use of page references used throughout the book. Plate references are often given in the text, but fail to give page numbers so you have to leaf back and forth searching.

The biggest failure however is the lack of English species name. Only scientific names are used throughout (including in the only list of species for the island) and I find this totally perplexing in this day and age. How does the author/publisher expect to engage the reader/user by only using scientific names which are alien to all but biologically trained individuals? There is no excuse since the Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe established very usable English names for all the species covered by this title. As an experienced dragonfly observer I know many scientific species names, but not all those covered by this book. I’ve long stopped using scientific names in Britain and since the publication of the Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe have adopted the English names used in this title. I will go as far as to say that within the British birdwatching community there is a long standing impression of insect watchers being elitist and exclusionist to other groups of observers. English names are simply more accessible to the masses, they are better understood and remembered. It is easy to recall a small damselfly with a blue abdomen tip as a Blue-tailed damselfly rather than it is to remember Ischnura elegans. No, the lack of English species names means this title will remain the preserve of the few used to using scientific names. Birdwatchers and the general public will be seriously put off using it which is a real shame when this could have so easily been avoided.

If you can handle scientific names, or be prepared to muddle by (you can always write all the English names in from the Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe) and want to know more about the dragonflies of Lesvos, then this is the only book available. At £19.99 it will put some people off, but it can be purchased on the island for €15 (from Green Lesbos in Skala Polichnitou).

Steve Dudley

Winter birds

Cattle Egret, Polichnitos Saltpans, 14 Dec 08 © Terry Robinson

With only five recent records, this is the third Cattle Egret in a year with a bird near Sigri in Dec 07 and one near Tsiknias River in April 08.

With only Terry and Sue Robinson really active on the island in winter there are few records to report. Apart from the Cattle Egret above, Terry and Sue report the following -

At the end of November 08 still three Ruddy Shelducks on Polichnitos Saltpans, lots of Starlings and Corn Buntings around, and lots of Serins and Sardinian Warblers have moved in for the winter. No grebes in the Gulf of Kalloni yet though. We had the first real rains since May this weekend!

Mid-December 08 - The above Cattle Egret was seen along side Little and Great White Egrets! and Spotted Redshank on Polichnitos Saltpans on 14 Dec. 207 Cormorant and 620 Great Crested Grebes in the Gulf off Polichnitos Saltpans on the morning of 21 Dec chasing a shoals of fish right up the beach! Grey Heron and a Great White Egret joined in catching the fish in the shallows! Still 3 white storks over-wintering and a few waders. A couple of Reed Buntings have joined the Serins and Corn Buntings at Polichnitos Saltpans along with 4 Linnets and a few Meadow Pipits. Lots of Black Redstart, Stonechat and Sardinian Warblers, with Song Thrush, Robin and Wren, all now wintering around the Polichnitos Saltpans

1 Jan 09 - 4 Whooper Swans on the sea off Mesa.

Imm Goshawk, Polichnitos Saltpans, Nov 08 © Terry Robinson