My wife had read in a tourist’s guide to Turkey about a nature reserve where there were Eagles, Vultures and wild boars amongst other wildlife. According to the book the reserve consisted of high, craggy mountains and bird rich marshes. It was called Dilek Yarimadasi Milli Park and it sounded fantastic but it was a long way from Icmeler. We decided to go despite the distance and we headed off after breakfast. At Mugla we saw a Common Buzzard and had a fleeting glimpse of a large, brown falcon. I thought that it may have been a Lanner but I couldn’t really tell from the brief glimpse we had. 

We had been driving for about two hours when we decided to stop at a restaurant which was located on the shores of Bafa Golu. Bafa Golu is a large freshwater lake about one hour's drive from the town of Milas. Whilst eating lunch we saw Yellow-legged Gulls, a Moorhen and a handsome, summer plumaged adult Mediterranean Gull.

Back on the road and from the car we saw a Jay land at the roadside, at least I thought it was a Jay from the brief glimpse we had but I noticed that it had a dark head. This confused me until I checked my field guide later and realised that Jays in this part of the world do have a black markings on the head. We saw many birds of prey on the journey but all of them remained unidentified usually because they were too distant . I had stopped the car to get a better look at one particular raptor when I saw a Black-headed Bunting singing from a telegraph pole nearby and a Corn Bunting singing from another pole on the other side of the road. 

After turning left at Priene (where we saw more Magpies than we’d seen anywhere else in Turkey) and heading toward the coast we eventually arrived at what a road sign said was Dilek Yarimadasi Milli. There was no sign of high, craggy mountains, just a wide, flat, marshy plain that stretched for miles. A long, straight road crossed the plain and a water filled ditch ran parallel to the road all the way along it’s length. The whole area was criss-crossed by these ditches and reeds grew in profusion along the banks providing some good habitat for birds. Unfortunately there were two large mechanical diggers building a high earth bank between the road and the main ditch while we were there, thus hiding the ditch from view and destroying good wildlife habitat I the process. 

Despite the diggers we managed to see some good birds. The first bird of note was a Woodchat Shrike perched on a bush near the road. My wife said that she’d seen a Lapwing type bird perched on the earth bank as we drove past so I reversed the car and saw my first Spur-winged Plover. I climbed the earth bank at one point and flushed a Little Bitten and a Squacco Heron which had been feeding in the ditch. We drove past 4 terns which were probably Whiskered Terns but I couldn’t tell for certain. Half way along the plain we stopped the car and went for a walk along another large ditch which ran down towards the coast. There were lots of terns about. Most of them were Common Terns but there were a few Whiskered Terns present and we saw a single White-winged Tern. Bee-Eaters are always are pleasant sight and we saw 6 of them. One individual was hovering above the path we were on and we were able to watch it for a while. Nearby there was a sandbank with a few holes, presumably Bee Eaters’ nests and we saw a large, green snake with red head heading for one of the holes. It was obviously looking for Bee Eater eggs or chicks but it slithered off when we it saw us. I haven’t got a clue what kind of snake it was. Two more Squacco Herons made an appearance near the water and I saw a single Mediterranean Gull fly over.

A White Stork flew over and landed near to where we had left the car and was still there when we returned later. The plain was crossed by a long line of electricity pylons which disappeared into the distance and there seemed to be a Stork’s nest on every third pylon. Walking back to the car we saw a few Crested Larks, a Calandra Lark and four Glossy Ibis fly over. There was a small pond near the car and I saw two unfamiliar waders feeding on the edge of the water. I had a long, good look and I’m pretty sure that they were Wood Sandpipers.