An Athenian spring: Enjoying Eleonora's falcons, Chuckar partridges and unusual flowers

Cambridge-based naturalist Martin Walters recounts a spring trip to Athens to observe flowers and birds around the Acropolis and the nearby island of Andros. In the city, migrants such as swifts and swallows were nesting, while Alpine swifts and hoopoes moved through cliffs and olive groves. The landscape features broomrapes, roman nettle, and the sour fig along the coast, with maquis scrub of olives and evergreen oaks near the urban area.

At Cape Sounion, Walters notes partridges around the temple, likely rock or chukar. On Andros, yellow-legged gulls share the port with two shearwater species—the yelkouan Mediterranean and Scopoli's—breeding on cliffs and feeding near fishing boats. The journey links archaeology with natural history, showing how spring habitats connect islands and the mainland.