Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete is located about 160 km (99 miles) south of the Greek mainland, and about 100 km (62 miles) southwest of Anatolia. Crete has an area of around 8,500 km2 (c.3,250 square miles) and a coastline 1,046 km (650 miles) long with a large number of islands, islets, and rocks that hug the coast. It bounds the southern border of the Aegean Sea, with the Sea of Crete to the north and the Libyan Sea (or South Cretan Sea) to the south. Crete covers 260 km from west to east but is narrow from north to south, spanning three longitudes but only half a latitude.

The island is mostly mountainous, and its character is defined by a high mountain range crossing from west to east. It includes Crete’s highest point, Mount Ida, and the range of the White Mountains (Lefka Ori) with 30 summits above 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) in altitude and the Samaria Gorge, a World Biosphere Reserve. These mountains endow Crete with valleys, such as Amari valley and fertile plateaus, such as Lasithi plateau, Omalos and Nidha.

Gramvousa – ©Jimzoun, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

There are a number of peninsulas and gulfs on the north side of Crete, from west to east these include: Gramvousa peninsula, gulf of Kissamos, Rodopos peninsula, gulf of Chania, Akrotiri peninsula, Souda Bay, Apokoronas cape, gulf of Almiros, gulf of Heraklion, Aforesmenos cape, gulf of Mirabello, gulf of Sitia and the Sideros peninsula. On the south side of Crete is the gulf of Messaras and Cape Lithinon. The island also has a number of gorges, such as the Samariá Gorge, Imbros Gorge, Kourtaliotiko Gorge, Ha Gorge, Platania Gorge, the Gorge of the Dead (at Kato Zakros, Sitia) and Richtis Gorge and (Richtis) waterfall at Exo Mouliana in Sitia.

Crete’s rivers include the Geropotamos River, the Koiliaris, the Anapodiaris, the Almiros, the Giofyros, the Keritis, and Megas Potamos. There are only two freshwater lakes: Lake Kournas and Lake Agia. Lake Voulismeni at the coast, at Aghios Nikolaos, was formerly a freshwater lake but is now connected to the sea. There are also three artificial lakes created by dams: the lake of Aposelemis Dam, the lake of Potamos Dam, and the lake of Mpramiana Dam.

Crete straddles two climatic zones, the Mediterranean and the semi-arid climate, mainly falling within the former. It is primarily a hot-summer Mediterranean climate while some areas in the south and east have a hot semi-arid climate. The higher elevations fall into the warm-summer Mediterranean climate category while the mountain peaks might feature a cold-summer Mediterranean climate or a continental climate. The atmosphere can be quite humid, depending on the proximity to the sea, while winter is fairly mild. Snowfall is common on the mountains between November and May, but rare in the low-lying areas.

Asterousia Mountains  – ©Unukorno, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The south coast, including the Mesara Plain and Asterousia Mountains, falls in the North African climatic zone, enjoying significantly more sunny days and high temperatures throughout the year. There, date palms bear fruit, and swallows remain year-round rather than migrate to Africa. The fertile region around Ierapetra, on the southeastern corner of the island, has year-round agricultural production, with summer vegetables and fruit produced in greenhouses throughout the winter. Western Crete (Chania province) receives more rain and the soils there suffer more erosion compared to the Eastern part of Crete. Average annual temperatures reach up to 21.0°C in South Crete. Crete holds the record for the highest temperatures ever recorded in Europe during October, November, January and February.

Birding Crete

Crete, being the largest Greek island and lying a long way south in the eastern Mediterranean, Spring and Autumn migrants and winter visitors use the island and it has a good range of resident birds, such as Griffon Vulture, Bearded Vulture, Bonelli’s Eagle, Ruppell’s Warbler and Red-billed and Alpine Chough.

This mainly limestone island is almost like a miniature continent with many mountain ranges, gorges, coastal fields, beaches, seasonal rivers and pools and even high mountain deserts. All these habitats mean that birding is very varied with residents like Griffon Vultures, Bearded Vulture, Golden Eagle, Peregrine, Buzzard, Kestrel, Cetti’s Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blue Rock Thrush, Zitting Cisticola, Stonechat and Crested Lark and Italian Sparrow are fairly common.

In the uplands on the plateaux and gorges there are Cirl Bunting, Alpine & Red-billed Chough, Woodlark and Black–eared Wheatear. Winter visitors arrive from November to end of March and Kingfisher, Bluethroat, Starling, Robin and Black Redstart over winter. Spring passage begins in late March to May and Pied, Collared and Semi-collared Flycatchers, Wood Warbler, Northern Wheatear, Golden Oriole, Grey and Purple Heron, Night Heron, Little Egret, and Little Bittern, Little Crake and Bee-eaters pass through. Autumn passage begins in late August through September and October when Whitethroat, Red-backed Shrike, Garganey, Mallard pass through. Eleanora’s Falcon are nesting and Harriers and smaller Eagles follow the east coast south to Africa.

As the island is largely dry due to the geology, then river mouth pools, small wetlands and spring pools from underground water are very important for birds. The largest reservoir is at Bramiana to the NE of Ierapetra, the largest town on the south coast. Here there are good roosts of gulls and ducks in winter, and passage waders, birds of prey like Eleanora’s and Red-footed Falcon and interesting birds like Black-winged Stilt, Glossy Ibis, Garganey and Green and Wood Sandpipers.

Balos Lagoon – ©dronepicr, CC BY 2.0  via Wikimedia Commons

The rivers tend to run dry by the end of May but in April and early May they are fed by melt water from the snow in the high mountains. The Aposelemis river and Gouves lagoons on the north coast off the old coast road east of Iraklion to Hersonissos are a real hot spot for migrants and breeding birds and regularly attract Little Crake, Garganey, Black-winged Stilt, Purple Heron, Greater Flamingo, Short-toed Lark, Stonechat, Woodchat Shrike, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Buzzard, Kestrel, Griffon Vulture, Little Egret, Northern Wheatear, Black-eared Wheatear in the Gorge behind the site. The bird list is 150+. This cannot be truthfully described as one of Crete’s beautiful spots due to rubbish dumping, the Gouves football pitch and the general air of neglect, but the birds are blind to this and are feeding up frantically before moving on to breed further north. Rarities from Richard’s Pipit to Sociable Plover have turned up here.

The Tavronitis river mouth also attracts similar birds as well as Osprey and lies to the west of Chania and the western side of Maleme. There are other river mouths to check out along the north coast.

Agia Reservoir to the SW of Chania is another small gem. The reservoir is fed by the Great Springs of Ayia, which bring huge amounts of cold underground water to serve the town of Chania. The dam and pumping station are situated on two banks of this reservoir and the other banks are backed by reeds, it holds Marsh Harrier, Reed Warbler, Moustached Warbler, Wood Warbler, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, House and Sand Martin, Swift, Alpine Swift, Little and Baillon’s Crake and Yellow Wagtails. If you explore into the mountain ranges and plateaux you will find a wealth of beautiful spots.

The south coast has a steep descent to the sea as Crete really is the top of a mountain range, but there are good beaches at Plakias and Frangocastello that are also good birding areas.

Target Birds (For visitors from UK, Northern Europe and beyond) Bearded Vulture: 10-15 pairs sadly with poor breeding rates. Rûppells Warbler, breed in the locally common areas on the south side of the island. They favour slopes with Yellow Spiny Broom Calicotome villosa. Griffon Vultures are common in small colonies in the gorges. Lanner Falcon may breed in the sea-level gorges and Bonelli’s Eagles also breed in the mountain gorges. Crete has a hundred gorges. Ortolan Bunting breed in the southern mountains on dry slopes and Cirl Buntings prefer the mountain plateaux.

Other Taxa For botanists the island is a delight and there are wonderful displays of Mediterranean flowers and orchids. There are endemic butterflies such as Cretan Argus and Cretan Festoon, as well as a wide variety of others.

Getting There The main airport is at Heraklion on the north coast. Flights direct to Crete by charter aircraft from April to October and daily on scheduled flights via Athens. Crete offers a huge range of accommodation from self-catering apartments through small hotels to large hotel complexes, which are open all year. Transport systems are a good local and town-to-town bus service at a reasonable price and car and motorbike and bicycle hire are available. Most of the northern coast has tourist development and could be used as a base, but the central mountains, the south and the east coasts are more attractive.