We are in the middle of summer now and as the holidays approach, visiting a beach for a swim is more frequent than creating nature photos. Last weekend I was at a beach at the east coast of Evia Island. The beach was less than 200 meters wide and was located between two rocky cliffs. The place was rather crowded since at some point there were more than 100 tents there.
We selected to sit at the right side of the beach. I soon realized that despite the crowded beach, a large colony of Eurasian Crag Martins was based at the right slope of the beach and another colony of Alpine Swifts was based at the left slope. Fortunately I had my 300 lens with me and I made some photos of the Crag Martins since they are not a common sight.
Some nests were just a few meters above the tents and the young birds were already making their first flights. Some of them even managed to catch their first prey as the one in the photo below.
Adult birds often landed to the beach to catch an insect or stopped for a while on the rocky hillside quite close to us in order to get some rest and take care of their plumage.
A Kestrel was often trying to grab a young bird but all attacks failed since every time more than 10 adult birds were defending the colony successfully.
English
Ελληνικα
hello Petros. Which is this evoia beach ? It seems to me like Limnionas or Hiliadou where we used to make camping more than 15 years ago.
Hi Michalis. Actually it is a small beach located between Limnionas and Hiliadou beaches. It is near the Agriosikia Village.
Petros