During our visit to Lesbos in 2025 we made several trips to the western side of the island as the area has several birding sites that can be very productive. In addition, now that the fast road is open across the island, bypassing a number of very windy sections, it takes less than an hour to get to Sigri from Skala Kallonis.
Near the start of the road to the west, the Filia track is a good birding site and we made one visit to try and see the Eastern Bonelli’s warbler. The bird proved quite elusive at first but eventually appeared in the open allowing us to get a good photograph. We also had good views of a female Red-backed Shrike.
In the middle of the drive to Sigri we often stop at the Perivoli Monastery as it is very close to the main road and is a good location to see the Middle-spotted Woodpecker.
It took us a couple of visits, but we finally saw the Middle-spotted Woodpeckers that had a nest high in one of the trees near to the entrance to the monastery.
A few miles to the west of Perivoli Monastery is the striking Ipsilou Monastery, which is situated on a hill and is visible across a large area. We visited the monastery on a couple of occasions but only had moderate success in photographing birds there. We found it best to park in one of the pull-offs on the road down from the top, although here it was necessary to take photographs down a steep slope or up towards the top of the hill, with most birds being quite distant. Birds that were some distance away included Subalpine Warbler, Ortolan Bunting and Isabelline Wheatear. But we photographed a Black-eared Wheatear perched on one of the walls of the monastery and a Cinereous Bunting was singing very close to the road, giving us a good shot. Although some distance away down the slope, we also managed to get a photograph of a Persian Squirrel, a new mammal for us.
The road west from Kalloni ends at Sigri and from there it’s only a short distance to drive to two excellent birding sites, the ‘old cheese factory’ to the south and the Faneromeni area to the north. The former consists of a secluded valley that often draws in good birds that can be view from a path extending a few hundred metres from the main road. There we saw lots of Stonechats, including juveniles, a very distant Golden Oriole and Lesser Grey Shrike with a beetle.
Faneromeni is another excellent birding site a few kilometres north of Sigri. In particular, the two fords that cross the river that runs down to Faneromeni beach are often visited by birders in search of migrants. We made a couple of visits to the upper ford and had excellent views of a Critrine Wagtail, along with Cirl Bunting and Little Egret. Unfortunately, on another visit there was a truck and motorbike driving up the river, which didn’t help the birding!
The Sigri lower ford, which is just off the main coast road, had been replaced by a concrete bridge since our last visit, but was still a good place to go birding. From the ford/bridge you can walk down a lane to the sea or follow the road back towards Sigri along which you can see birds flying over or in the fields.
The lane from the ford to the beach was very productive on both our visits and we saw Corn Bunting, Turtle Dove, Red-backed Shrike, Great Reed Warbler, Eurasian Greenfinch and Black-headed Bunting.
As we walked back to the main road from the lower ford we had our only sighting on the trip of a Chukar, although the light was harsh in the late morning. We also photographed an Eastern Orphean Warbler on a wire.
On each of our drives back to Skala Kallonis we took a sidetrack towards the petrified forest, which is a very productive birding road. The road winds between rocky outcrops on which bird perch making them easy to be photographed from the car. The road passes through the typical habitat of the Cretzschmar’s Bunting and we photographed this species on each of our visits. We also saw the very common Crested Lark, male and female European Stonechat and a Corn Bunting with a cricket. At the end of the road, close to the entrance to the petrified forest site, we saw a Little Owl sitting on top of a pole, which was very tolerant to all the comings and goings of people in the car park.
During our five visits to western Lesbos we ate at two good restaurants in Sigri. We particularly enjoyed Remezzo, which had a wonderful view across the ocean from its location high on a cliff top. It also had excellent seafood.
We also ate at the Cavo Doro restaurant, which is conveniently situated on the waterfront at Signi. It’s walls are covered with photographs of old movie starts, indicating its quite glamorous past.
