Dan Lay and group participants at Penisola Magnisi, Sicily (L. Boscain)

After a gentle drive of less than an hour, we passed through the huge entrance gates of Case del Feudo. In this characterful 17th-century former hunting lodge, surrounded by the peaceful Syracuse countryside, among citrus trees and flourishing vineyards, we were welcomed in person by Baron Beneventano, the owner of the estate, along with Ms. La Greca, the smiling housekeeper.

Arriving perfectly in time for lunch, we settled our belongings into our rooms and descended the staircase to the typical European courtyard where we lapped up the first of the Mediterranean sunshine as the final preparations were being made for our mouth-watering lunch. Our waiter, Yeasin, served delicious arancini, mixed salad, fresh tomatoes, breads and mozzarella, while a number of beautiful butterflies were peacefully dancing above us, seeking the vibrant and scented flowers of the garden. Such butterflies included Long-tailed Blue, Common Swallowtail and the exquisite Cleopatra.

Our first excursion would be taken at Capo Murro di Porco, the ‘Snout of the Pig’, which is the most prominent peninsula of south-eastern Sicily and represents a great location to search for migrating birds who take respite here before their onward journey through the Mediterranean Sea.

The peninsula is covered by a verdant garrigue, rich in Mastic Trees, Thorny Burnets, Tree Spurges, and the rare Dwarf Fan Palms, Europe’s only native palm. We strolled along a stony path to the peninsula’s lighthouse which had been restored recently and was looking pristine but had lost a bit of its decadent charm. The lighthouse was, however, still appealing to smiling Moorish Geckos, who basked in the glowing afternoon sun. Soon we found our first Zitting Cisticola, while the vegetation surrounding the path was filled with Italian Wall Lizards and orthoptera, particularly Eyprepocnemis plorans and the superbly cryptic Red-winged Grasshopper. Sea-watching from the base of the lighthouse produced our first Yellow-legged Gulls and two Sandwich Terns. The eroded pale rocks hosted patches of interesting plants including Rock Samphire, Golden Samphire, Spanish Oregano and Syracusan Sea Lavender.

Back at Case del Feudo, in the wonderful al-fresco courtyard, we tasted the wines produced on the estate, going from the Syrah to the famous Nero d’Avola, and enjoyed some delightful crostini with mouth-wateringly seasoned tomato sauce topping.

As the wonderful warm evening began transitioning into night, Jasmine flowers were delightfully advertising their nocturnal scent to moths, mainly Silver Ys, before we moved inside for supper in the dining room. The room was historically used as a stable, but now completely renovated and made particularly attractive through the use of soft illumination, decorations that were formerly used to embellish the donkeys during festivals and a series of ancient agrarian tools.

Our evening meal included an endless list of dishes, going from a risotto with peppers, to spicy sausages, to salmon, to aubergines, and culminating in hand-cooked almond cakes for dessert. Before we retired to our characterful rooms for the night, Luca and participant John both set moth light-traps.

The overnight moth-traps were a huge success, attracting over 150 moths including such superb species as the Amah, Mediterranean Brocade, Ruby Tiger, Pink-barred Eublemma, Devonshire Wainscot and the geometrid Catarhoe basochesiata. Additionally, John’s moth-trap, set on the window sill of his first floor room, had drawn in a very beautiful Spurge Hawk-moth.

Today would be spent at the excellent Vendicari Reserve, along the south-eastern coast of Sicily and after arriving it wasn’t long before we recorded highlights such as Sea Daffodil, Littoral Tiger Beetle, Slender-billed Gull, Audouin’s Gull and a good number of Greater Flamingo.

On the shore of the Pantano Grande we watched Dunlin and Ringed Plover foraging charmingly, before reaching the tonnara which had become well-known after it appeared in an episode of Inspector Montalbano. This former tuna processing factory, abandoned more than a century ago, but used since the 17th century, had lost its roof and had been recently restored, appearing like the ruin of an ancient cathedral – a very atmospheric structure nestled in front of a beautiful bay. Nearby, we enjoyed the square-shaped tower from the Swabian rule, used for centuries to spot Saracen corsairs and now a great location to take a photo and listen to the satisfying rumble of the sea.

For lunch, our mouths salivated heavily when we stopped in a nearby open-air café and bit into the freshly baked olive oil-rich ciabatta filled with deliciously fresh local products: artichokes, dried tomatoes and capponata. Here too, Luca introduced us to a Sicilian delicacy, the granita siciliana, a dessert made with remarkably smooth and creamy pulverized ice, smothered in refreshingly sweet clementine or lemon juice.

Delighted by our lunch, we continued to Marzamemi to search for wildlife in its former saltpans. Behind a swathe of Giant Reeds we found Black-winged Stilts, Spotted Redshanks, some Shoveler and Teal. Continuing to circumnavigate the pond we added Kentish and Ringed Plover plus three Temminck’s Stints who were welcome additions to the day’s list. Whilst embarking the vans, two huge Caspian Terns crossed in flight above us, emitting their awkward calls.

With heavy showers ensuing and light-levels fading, we planned to return to Case del Feudo but, on the left side of the road, we noticed another small pond with plenty of birds. As we settled our scopes to begin scanning the pond, a lovely Painted Frog was found. The pond itself hosted numerous waders including Greater Flamingo, Great Egrets, Snipe and a number of Dunlins and Little Stints, among which a single Ruff was also spotted.

A small cyclone had been forming and circling just off-shore to the eastern coast of Sicily and it wasn’t clear if it was going to move west towards us or far from us, to the Balkans. In the evening, John was still able to settle his moth-trap on a sheltered window sill.

Overnight, the high atmospheric pressure brought good fortune to John’s moth-trap and had attracted an incredible Death's-head Hawkmoth, five Convolvulus Hawk-moths, Giant Looper and a Lappet. A superb pre-breakfast walk produced Golden Orioles, Alpine Swifts, Tree Pipit and Sedge Warbler.

Today we would explore the enriched habitats of Pantano Cuba, a brackish water lake that, together with the adjacent Pantano Longarini, was bought in 2016 by the German wildlife foundation Stiftung Pro Artenvielfalt (SPA) with the aim of protecting species from illegal hunting, which used to abound in the area, and also from the expansion of the neighbouring tourist attractions and restaurants which were settling and expanding here, drawn in by the nearby Granelli Beach. An investment of almost 5 million euros has led to the almost complete protection of the two lakes by a perimeter fence, together with the adoption of a series of actions for the protection, conservation and strengthening of the local biodiversity.

Here we met Nino, a truly inspirational SPA staff member, who has been working tirelessly and relentlessly to enhance and protect these incredibly special reserves. Nest boxes have been created in the unused outbuildings and on suitable trees around the reserve, drinking pools have been constructed, piles of stones laid as refugia for reptiles, perches erected for passerines, bug-hotels for solitary bees, meadows mown in strips for farmland birds and orchids, areas de-littered from the former greenhouses and fly tipping. It was a pleasure to know that our visit here would be supporting such a wonderful project for the conservation of wildlife.

It wasn’t long until we were able to reap the rewards of Nino’s superb work: Common Swallowtail, Lang's Short-tailed Blue, Plain Tiger, Crimson Speckled Moths and Cone-headed Grasshopper all evident with a few minutes of walking.

A large formation of Spoonbill crossed in the sky, followed by 50 Slender-billed Gulls and five Pintails. In the shallows of the beautiful lake were flocks of Little and Common Ringed Plovers, Redshanks, Little Egrets, Spoonbills and Pied Avocets. Floating on the lake’s surface were hundreds of Coots, Mallards and Little Grebes while, on the land side, in the prairies, superb numbers of Zitting Cisticola, Whinchats and a glimpse of a lovely Hoopoe. We were truly in a little slice of heaven.

Moving to the adjacent side of the reserve we were surrounded by hundreds of newly planted native trees, such as Olive and Mastic Trees which had been planted by Nino and his colleagues to create a buffer zone between the road and lakes, and here we entered Pantano Longarini. It was a recent acquisition of SPA, and there were still many projects to finish here, but from a small abandoned house the view was stunning: the midday sun was illuminating every bit of vibrancy from the feathers of a strong flock of Greater Flamingoes and tens of Redshanks, among which we spotted Greenshank, Black-winged Stilt and four elegant Marsh Sandpipers.

Nino’s colleague, Giancarlo, telephoned Nino to tell him that nearby he had found a Leopard Snake. The Leopard Snake is considered one of the most beautiful, and elusive, snakes in Europe, so we moved quickly to the location but, despite a valiant search, the reptile remained unobtainable and we only managed to locate beautiful Italian Wall Lizards, a Southern Darter and a nice colony of European Firebug.

After lunch we went to another view point of Pantano Longarini where, spreading along a bank on a muddy island, there was a big flock of white birds which was revealed to be Black-headed and Slender-billed Gulls together with a few Sandwich and Caspian Terns. There were also many small waders around, including Ringed and Kentish Plovers, Dunlins and Little Stints.

Two of the target species of the southern lakes were rare Mediterranean ducks that we had not been able to find, so Nino led us to a freshwater lake. Scanning carefully with our scopes, we spotted some uncharacteristically obliging Purple Swamphens, followed by a single Ferruginous Duck and a lovely Marbled Duck, a species that breeds in Italy with less than 10 pairs, all concentrated in Sicily: mission accomplished – what a wonderful day!

The following morning, with the weather forecast to be fine, we used our flexibility in the itinerary to head to Mount Etna, the highest peak in Sicily and the tallest active volcano in Europe with an altitude of 3,326m.

En route, our first stop was near to Parsifal Park, where we were welcomed by the passage of Alpine and Pallid Swifts on migration. Here we explored the patches of Red Valerian in bloom on the roadside, which hosted good numbers of Lang's Short-tailed Blues, Small Coppers, Meadow Browns and Long-tailed Blues.

We continued driving to the foothill of Monte Concilio amongst a lovely mosaic of gardens, orchards and patches of Chestnut Trees and Downy Oaks. Another stop produced a good view of a Wood Warbler and Short-toed Treecreepers.

We kept ascending among the lava fields, roadside houses now almost completely covered by recent eruptions and more fortunate patches of forest that managed to survive, even if surrounded by the ever-threatening hug of dark solidified lava streams.

When we reached the Rifugio Sapienza area we were greeted by just a fraction of the usual tourist numbers. After first taking the cable-cars, followed by the tall 30-seater 4x4 vehicles, we began our walking ascent. John spotted a resting White-speck Moth before we found the predicted migrating Seven Spot Ladybirds. We were blessed with clear views of the top of Etna with clouds of steam funnelling to the sky.

The trail led us to climb one of the two Barbagallo craters where, as we commenced our loop, the clouds began descending, smothering most of the view, but framing the vistas and making them even more dramatic, with windows of sunshine and deep blue sky here and there. By excavating just a small layer of the volcanic gravel substrate it was easy to feel the warmth generated by the sub-terrain activities. After enjoying our well-timed and sparsely populated visit to Mount Etna, we began our descent for another mouth-watering Sicilian lunch in a nearby restaurant.

After lunch we headed to the nearby Piano Vetore area, a wonderful peaceful valley with extensive meadows, maquis of Etna Brooms in blossom, looking like a herd of yellow clouds, and a number of interesting volcanic structures, including solidified pahoehoe lava or former lava tunnels.

As we got out of the vehicles, a green-coloured leaf-shaped object began falling from the nearby pines. It caught my eye and it soon became obvious that it was a moth, so I caught it, cupping it in my hands before transferring it into a test tube for inspection. We were delighted to see that it was the striking geometrid Hylaea mediterranea, an endemic of southern Italy. After studying and enjoying its intricate markings, we released it on its way. It wasn’t long at all before we were able to locate the famous Sicilian Long-tailed Tits, which appeared on the side of a woodland of Black Pines allowing great observations and showing well their characteristic grey mantle and brownish head.

Being blanketed by warm sunshine and blue skies, the grasses were alive with hundreds of invertebrates including a highly impressive female European Mantis, a number of Pygmy Pincer Grasshopper and Messina's Grasshopper, endemic to Sicily. A certain highlight was an incredible male Ladybird Spider, probably one of Europe’s, if not the world’s, most stunning arachnids.

Butterflies here included Queen of Spain Fritillaries, Oberthür's Grizzled Skipper, Hermits and a number of Graylings which can’t be verified in this immediate area without dissection, since both Common and Sicilian Grayling range here.

Luca pointed out a number of interesting plants, including the endemic Tanacetum siculum, Potentilla calabra, Rumex aetnensis, Centaurea giardinae, Etna Bedstraw, Etna Barberry and Etna Milk-vetch.

But there was still an endemic species to see, and possibly the most iconic: Whitaker’s or Sicilian Rock Partridge, which, according to the most recent research, is most likely well separated from the mainland Rock Partridges.

On the way back to Case del Feudo, along the road to Nicolosi we made one final attempt, scanning a lava field. We noticed a singing male Black Redstart on a wire, then a distant Peregrine Falcon, perched on a rock… but sadly no sign of the partridge. We were reluctantly approaching the moment when we would need to call it a day when Ann and I heard the call of an individual partridge, not far from where we stood. We continued scanning to no avail until Jenny called ‘partridge!’ It was all eyes to the left, as an individual partridge appeared, showing well for a matter of teasing moments before retaining its elusive character and skulking into the vegetation.

We celebrated today’s quite incredible species haul with a sumptuous dinner: delightful pasta with fresh ricotta cheese, fried chicken, tempura aubergine and chips.

The following morning produced a huge collection of moths again in the moth-traps with more than 200 individuals! The most notable were the Mediterranean geometrids Menophra japygiaria, Microloxia herbaria and Eucrostes indigenata, Passenger, Lace Border, Pale-shouldered Cloud, Dumeril's Rustic, Egyptian Bollworm, and the tiny Dichomeris lamprostoma.

Today’s excursion would take us to Cava Grande, first stopping at a wonderful viewpoint that faced towards the town of Avola. Here we could appreciate the endless work undertaken by humans in the area – centuries ago building a complex system of terraces in order to cultivate all the fertile slopes of the Hyblean upland, which are no longer used.

In the deep blue sky, we spotted at least four late juvenile Honey Buzzards, on their way to Africa, while the scanning of the hill slopes produced Northern Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush and an unexpected, but incredibly welcome, juvenile Spectacled Warbler, characterized by its chestnut-coloured wings. Here we also found a Copper Demoiselle, a lovely Mediterranean Mantis and a small group of Swallowtails.

Continuing our route, another quick stop in a dry meadow in the upland produced our first Sicilian Wall Lizard sightings, plus a couple of large female Lobed Argiope spiders and a gorgeous Ocellated Skink.

Arriving at Cava Grande, we walked along the edge of a dramatic gorge almost 500m deep. A couple of Blue Rock Thrush were moving distantly on a cliff whilst a couple of Cleopatra flew around us – delightful!

We continued walking in an interesting maquis of scattered trees of Hawthorn and Almond-leaved Pear, shrubs like Pink Rock-rose, Yellow Restharrow, Osyris and the huge Mauritania Grass.

As we continued our walk, we encountered a number of nice butterflies, from large species such as Swallowtail, Tree Grayling and Large Banded Grayling, to smaller ones like Southern Blue, Baton Blue and Mallow Skipper. But the true star was the Sicilian Grayling and we found 2-3 very fresh individuals – here they can be positively identified as blachieri because in the Hyblean range semele have never been reported.

Despite the time of the year, the flora was still superbly rich – Ivy-leaved Cyclamen in bloom, the white Sweet Alyssum, the pink Dianthus rupicola, the blue Winged Larkspur, and the lime-green Mediterranean Clubmoss, an ancient plant, on a shady wall.

After a wonderful morning we drove for about half an hour, first in the flat upland, then in a series of narrow valleys and hills until we reached the town of Noto, the famous ‘capital of the Sicilian Baroque’.

Designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2002, together with some other centres in the valley, Noto, destroyed by a powerful earthquake in 1693, was completely reconstructed 8km from the ancient site all in the same architectonical style, the Baroque, characterized by geometrical and floral ornaments, elegant balconies, rotating sculptures and by an amazing number of churches, monasteries and convents, all with original curved facades each one similar but slightly different from the others. Surprising is the variation among the same theme, with details and curved lines, always incredibly charming and in a perfect balance with the warm colours of the local stone, from the pale yellow, to the ochre and the pink, all tones of which are particularly pleasing in the Mediterranean afternoon light.

In Noto we all enjoyed a visit to the cathedral and, importantly, sitting in a bar and relishing gelato or granita, savouring the incredibly rare opportunity to appreciate the town with remarkably few tourists around.

Arriving back at Case del Feudo at 17:30, we were ready to freshen up in time for dinner. I decided to have a quick exploration of another part of the hotel’s extensive grounds and couldn’t believe my eyes when I found a young Leopard Snake – a simply stunning species with coral-red spots skirted in black!

After another rich supper, we met again to have a night walk in the grounds. On the walls of the building and outbuildings were Moorish and Turkish Geckos, largely indistinguishable by their colouration but separated easily by the different shape of their fingers. We also heard the lovely distant calls of Scops and Little Owl.

The follow morning, a pre-breakfast walk produced a striking immature male Violet Dropwing and a Blue Emperor. The overnight moth-traps contained the beautiful erebid Grammodes bifasciata, Buff-tip and the Mediterranean noctuids Antirrhinum Brocade, Mythimna languida, Mythimna sicula and Condica viscosa.

After breakfast we visited the peninsula, Penisola Magnisi. This site, inhabited by humans since the Neolithic, and holding the remains of the settlement of Thapsos, today hosts an extraordinary peace, particularly rich prairies covered in thistles and a breathtaking deep blue sea backdrop.

As we left the vehicles, 15 Sandwich Terns flew above our heads, and we commenced our walk along the isthmus, passing abandoned buildings now colonized by large Common Fig plants, where we observed a good number of Spotless Starlings, Italian and Tree Sparrows and a single Spotted Flycatcher.

The vast prairie of the peninsula, which shows a palette of different thistles and other prickly daisies in the spring, was now all dead, leaving tall brown stems but the recent thunderstorms had allowed some new plants to flourish at a lower level and introduce a palette of European Heliotrope, Lesser Calamint, Common Leadwort, and Common Purslane, among which we were delighted to see Autumn Squill, Autumn Grape-Hyacinth and Autumn Mandrake, all perfectly in flower.

This fresh green layer was providing a humid microclimate to allow butterflies and moths such as Eastern Bath White, Crimson-speckled Moth along with its caterpillars, Clouded Yellow and Cotton Bollworm Moth, and also Italian and Sicilian Wall Lizards and a number of other invertebrates.

It took time to locate the first Stone Curlews, which frequent the area, but they did not disappoint and occasionally took the air briefly in good numbers before returning to their incredible well-hidden spots, whilst the peace of the location was sound-tracked by the songs and calls of Crested Larks, Wheatears, Zitting Cisticola, Goldfinches and Tawny Pipits.

In the afternoon we dedicated time to explore some historical aspects of Sicily, visiting the archaeological attractions of Syracuse. In Greek and Roman times, the so called Neapolis, the ‘new town’, being outside of the city walls, provided a contrastingly useful area to both bury the dead and a place to entertain, with the presence of a well-preserved Greek theatre and a small Roman amphitheatre.

Latomia del Paradiso is a superb shady garden here, with plenty of large trees skirting the side of a cliff in which generations of ancient people, mainly prisoners, dug amazing quarries of stone. One of those is known by the famous name of ‘Ear of Dionysius’ because of Caravaggio’s interpretation of the special shape and acoustic of the cave; he invented that it was the mad tyrant Dionysius’s tool to hear the groans of its prisoners. Here on the walls of the Ear, in a slight depression in the stone, we noticed a splendid pair of huge beetles, from the genus Blaps, and the jumping spider Menemerus semilimbatus.

Continuing the path to the Greek theatre, there was a large nymphaeum, an artificial waterfall alimented by an ancient aqueduct. Some of this water also penetrated the sides of the cliff, creating a couple of pools where we were able to find Southern Skimmer, Keeled Skimmer and Broad Scarlet.

At the amphitheatre we were attracted by the delicate beauty of the planted Peruvian Peppertree, with its pinnate leaves and tiny white flowers, and by the flights of some passerines; one or two Spotted Flycatchers hopping up and down from the low metal fencing and a marvellous male Common Redstart, still almost in breeding plumage.

After a delightful time at these tourist spots, we returned to our vehicles to head to Syracuse, and the island of Ortigia, where the group visited the stunning cathedral, historically a Greek temple, the Arethusa Spring and the unforgettable main square.

Our final morning had come too soon and in our over-worked moth-trap were Grass Eggar, Geometrician and Grammodes bifasciata, Radford's Flame Shoulder, Cream Drab and the noctuid Mythimna prominens. Additionally a nice find, in amongst the planted bamboo in the hotel grounds, was a lovely Italian Edible Frog, before it was sadly time to return to Catania for our flight home.

Wanting to continue squeezing every drop from our wonderful holiday to Sicily, on the way to the airport we stopped at the remote mouth of the Simeto River, the second longest in Sicily. Here we discovered individuals of the rare Northern Banded Groundling, an African species reported in Europe only in southern Spain, Sardinia and Sicily. Moments later Luca heard the call of the sought-after Penduline Tits, a number of them came close, perching on the tamarisk branches or feeding on the reeds. A couple of young Greater Flamingoes and an obliging Little Ringed Plover in perfect light, which lit up the splendid yellow eye ring through the telescope, were also enjoyed. On the opposite side we scanned a large group of hundreds of Yellow-legged Gulls, resting on the sand by the mouth of the river.

We couldn’t have asked for more from our holiday to Sicily!

 Reported by Luca Boscain and Dan Lay.