Snow in Zagori, quite a lot actually!

Snow in Zagori - Greece, January 2019

In less than 10 hours more than 70cm of snow accumulated in Zagori covering everything from houses, bridges, roads, trees! Further more, temperatures dropped to -15°C …

A salamander on the run …

Summer visitor! A bat at the front door

Summer visitor, a bat in Zagori, Greece

Early morning opera …

Mammut borsoni tusks at the Natural History Museum of Milea, Grevena

Mammut borsoni tasks at the Natural History Museum of Milea, Grevena

In 1997 Athanasios Delivos, a local of the village Milea in Grevena Western Macedonia, accidentally discovered a pair of tusks 4,39m long after a heavy rainfall. Following the discovery a team of archaeologists from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki led by Dr. Evaggelia Tsoukala started excavations on…

… And gathering swallows twitter in the skies

The swallows gathered this morning outside my window in Zagori in anticipation of their southbound trip towards their warmer second home

How beautiful the season is now—How fine the air. A temperate sharpness about it. Really, without joking, chaste weather—Dian skies—I never liked stubble-fields so much as now—Aye better than the chilly green of the spring. Somehow, a stubble-field looks warm—in the same way that…

Egyptian vulture

The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is the smallest of the four species of European vultures. Its small size (wingspan of 180 cm (5.9 ft.) and body length of 60 cm (2.2 ft.)) have lead to its other Bulgarian name: ‘lesser vulture’. The adults have white plumage with black flight feathers and featherless yellow-orange face. The crest of white, pointed feathers gives the bird its typical appearance. The tail is white and wedge-shaped. The young are dark brown with light feather tips. As they mature the dark juvenile feathers are gradually replaced with the typical white of the adults. The bird reaches adult plumage in its fifth or sixth year. In flight it can be mistaken for a white stork. The differences are the wedge-shaped tail and the short legs and neck.

Egyptian vulture or “Asproparis” [Ασπροπάρης in Greek], an almost extinct wild species in the region of Zagori and the National Park of Vikos-Aoos in Greece. The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is the smallest of the four species of European vultures. Its small size (wingspan of…

Sheep milk, cheese & yoghurt, Greece

Homemade cheese from sheep milk, Greece

The Zagori region in the National Park of Vikos-Aoos in Greece, is a very rich land with high altitude grazing fields where sheep graze in the natural and rich environment of Zagorochoria. Sheep are usually kept in flocks in paddocks as well as in the…

Bears in Pindos, Greece

Brown bears in their natural habitat in Northern greece

Brown bear distribution range in Greece comprises 2 distinct nuclei of unequal size, covering a total of about 11,000 km², and seems to have stabilized for the last 20 years after dramatic regression in the 19th century. The study area for the ecological analysis…

Fauna of the Zagori region

Salamandra salamandra (salamander) in the mountains of the Zagori region after a strong rainfall

The fauna of the two National Parks, that of Vikos-Aoos and Valia Calda, is especially abundant with respect to European standards, due to its geographical position and rich horizontal and vertical partitioning and the wide range of  habitats that are provided. The basic element…