In May 2025 we made our fourth visit to the Greek island of Lesbos in the eastern Mediterranean, which is a great birding destination in the spring when many birds are migrating northwards. At this time of year the island is very beautiful with lots of wild flowers and and very pleasant weather.
For this visit to Lesbos we once again decided to stay near Skala Kallonis, which is very central on the island and well placed for some of the best birding sites, such as the salt pans, Alykes wetland, the ford over the Tsiknias river and Metochi Lake. However, we chose a new hotel for this trip in the Aeolian Gaea, which has spacious rooms and is within walking distance of the lively restaurants of Skala Kallonis.
As usual, we flew out on the non-stop flight from London Stansted airport to Mytilini in the southeast corner of the island. After collecting a rental car from Budget, we drove to our hotel, picking up some supplies on the way.
At the Aeolian Gaia we had a first floor corner room with two balconies, which gave us excellent views over the gardens and surrounding fields, where there were plenty of birds. The hotel proved to be an excellent base from which to explore the island and its fauna and flora.
As we had two weeks on Lesbos we could adopt a fairly leisurely pace with our birding, visiting all parts of the island and mixing days in more distant locations with birding around the Skala Kallonis area. For the last two days we were assisted by local guide Stelios Zannetos who helped us find a few of the more difficult species.
In summary, we had a very enjoyable two weeks on Lesbos and were happy with the hotel, the restaurants and the birds we saw. Sightings over the two weeks are described in the following sections, which cover the Skala Kallonis area and various sections of the island.
