Description

We are delighted to offer the chance to get some early spring sunshine & wildlife, with us in Cyprus in Spring!

Spring comes early to Aphrodite’s Isle & we invite you to leave winter behind for a while and join us for a week of warmth & wildlife!

Cyprus is located in the Eastern Mediterranean and famed as a holiday destination for sun-seeking holidaymakers due to its mild climate. What may visitors don’t realise though is that beneath the exterior of sun umbrellas and beach resorts, the third largest island in the Mediterranean has been created by the collision of two tectonic plates and the resulting uplift has caused the island to be composed of unusual bedrock with high incidence of components like Copper (which may be the etymological origin of the island’s name) and Serpentine. This in turn has been a contributing factor to the plant life that grows on the island and now around 8% of the species on Cyprus are classed as endemic, meaning that they don’t occur anywhere else.

During our time on the island, we will enjoy a number of these including orchids and other plant families, plus a variety of other taxa from birds like Cyprus Scops Owl and Cyprus Wheatear to reptiles like Troodos Lizard and Sling-tailed Agama and species from a number of other groups that are also found only on Cyprus.

The tour is timed to take in the emergence of spring flowers and orchids in particular, including but not limited to Anacamptis coriophora, Anacamptis morio ssp. syriaca, Dactylorhiza romana, Epipactis veratrifolia, Himantoglossum robertianum, Orchis punctulata, Orchis x seizikiana, Ophrys anatolica ssp. elegans, Oprhys bornmuelleri, Ophrys iricolor, Ophrys kotschyi, Ophrys mammosa, Ophrys umbilicata ssp. flavomarginata & Ophrys umbilicata ssp. lapethica. It will also be perfect timing to take in birds on spring migration so there is the possibility of adding species to the list that may not be resident on the island.

We will cover a variety of habitats and altitudes to see as wide a range of species as possible during our time. In addition to the wildlife though, we hope to enjoy some of the culture of the island with a visit to the archaeological site at Kourion. The leaders have a wide range of general wildlife knowledge and the focus on this tour will match and thus our aim will be to sample and enjoy any and all flora & fauna that we see during our days out – this is about showing you much more than the orchids which Cyprus is rightly famous for. The tour will be conducted at a pace perfectly suited for photography and enjoyment of the nature and wildlife with which we will surround ourselves.