LIVADI MARSH
My favourite place to watch wildlife on this wonderful island is Livadi Marsh. It is located at the Northwestern edge of the gulf of Argostoli with the road to Lixouri bordering it. There is a working quarry behind the marsh with a cattle farm close by. The main road has the marsh on one side and the shallow gulf on the other. The marsh covers an area of approximately 800 acres and is a flooded wetland with brackish water. There are many flooded ditches interspersed with shrubs and trees. Further along the road there is a restaurant, with apartments called “the 3 umbrellas”, which serves excellent food. It is a family-owned business, and they are very friendly and accommodating.
There are well over 100 species of birds to look out for, with plenty of herons and egrets. Grey, squacco, night, black crowned and purple herons can be seen, as well as little, great and cattle egrets all being common visitors. The last time I was there, we had great reed, reed, Cetti’s and Eastern olivaceous warblers, singing around us, as well as black-winged stilts, moorhen and an elusive water rail. There are marsh harriers, buzzards, kestrels, peregrines, red-legged falcons and I once saw a goshawk here. Balkan and European pond terrapins frequent the ditches, with marsh frogs feeding the many birds. There are snakes, but unfortunately, I have not seen any here yet.