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| The group |
Just after the start of the new year I thought about a visit back to Bulgaria, as it was just prior to covid when we did a winter visit for the Red-breasted Geese. On that trip we experienced great birding and hospitality at a very reasonable price and I was keen to visit there again. Having spoken with Dimiter Georgiov at the Bird Fair back last summer, I made contact and a trip was planned for the beginning of June. Friends Alan, Sandra, Chris and his girl friend Jo were all keen to go, Julie and Malcolm were keen but sadly had to pull out due to Malcolm's sciatica. So there was just the five of us.
Saturday 1st June I got the train from Ore mid afternoon to Gatwick and checked into the North Terminal Premier Inn. After dinner I took my bag to to the Easy Jet twilight bag drop, and met Sandra who did the same. A comfortable night's sleep .
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| Premier Inn room I could be anywhere as they are all the same. |
I was first in the dining room for breakfast at 4.00 am but could only get a continental breakfast as at that time no hot food was available, pockets filled with croissants I walked to the terminal and got through security fairly quick and met the others at the boarding gate. We were warned of a delay of departure but took off around 6.30 am arriving on time in Sofia Bulgaria. Having collected our luggage we were the last to get into arrivals where our guide Vladimir Petrov (Vlad) was waiting for us. A short walk to the minibus where we saw our first birds of Hooded Crows, Jackdaws, House Martins and Swallows. Stopping at some services Vlad bought our sandwiches for lunch and then about an hours drive east along the motorway from Sofia we turned onto a minor road which led through some villages and we started our ascent into the Western Rhodopes. Our first target this afternoon was for a Pygmy Owl, however we were stopped in our tracks when a female Hazel Grouse with chicks were wandering across the road. Unfortunately I didnt get a photo of the chicks but through the windscreen a shot of the mother. Later but with patience I managed a shot when she came into view while outside the mini bus.
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| Hazel Grouse (hen) through the windscreen |
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| Female Hazel Grouse |
From here we continued up the mountain road stopping several times looking for the Pygmy Owl
At one stop we heard a Black Woodpecker but it couldn't be found but a Great Spot put in an appearance
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| Great-Spotted Woodpecker |
With several more stops Vlad tried calling the Pygmy Owl, and then one answered back, flew into the tree opposite.
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| Pygmy Owl |
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| Pygmy Owl |
A little further on up the road we had some views of a Nutcracker - a lifer for me but hard to get a good photo, I cant remember if it was in fact taken from within the mini bus - but happy with what I saw.
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| Nutcracker |
Eventually we made our way to the top of the mountain where there was a dammed lake and we were in Alpine scenery. A couple of stops here first found a Souslik (Ground Squirrel)
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| Souslik |
And then a Ring Ouzel which was more browner than the ones we see in the UK
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| Ring Ouzel |
On the route we came across several Red-Backed Shrikes which were to be common on the rest of the trip
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| Red-backed Shrike |
Driving down the southern side of the Western Rhodopes we reached our hotel at Yundola
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| Semi-detached Lodge (my room on the left) |
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| Inside |
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| Bathroom |
At the bar
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| Local Beer |
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| That wont last long |
While on the patio waiting for dinner a pair of Crag Martins had a next in an adjacent building
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| Crag Martins |
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| Bulgarian Salad one of many to come! |
Monday 3rd June, I took a walk before breakfast up the hill into the forest seeing a pair of Bullfinches, and a flock of tits of which one was a Willow Tit
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Willow Tit
We drove through a few villages where there were several Stork nests |
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| White Stork and young |
But having had such a good day on Sunday, after breakfast we set off to a forest to try and get some views of Woodpeckers. Unfortunately they were not being co-operative.
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| Looking for Woodpeckers |
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| A typical village in the Western Rhodopes (Alpine like) |
At lunch time we stopped in a village and had Pizzas, then heading off to another woodland, once again the Woodpeckers were not very co-operative in that the views were only brief of Grey headed, Middle Spotted and Syrian but we had excellent views of a pair of Semi-collared Flycatchers feeding young at a nest box.
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| Male Semi-collared Flycatcher |
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| Female Semi-collared Flycatcher |
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| Male Semi-collared Flycatcher |
From the wood we headed to some fishing lakes where we found of interest Little Bittern, Lesser Grey Shrike, Honey Buzzard, we heard a reeling Savis Warbler and a Grass Snake swam in front of us.
Tuesday 4th June, this morning we set off early with a packed breakfast of sheep's cheese sandwich and hard boiled egg. Stopping at a lake we found Great Egret, Grey Heron, and Great-crested Grebe but also in the meadow some orchids and Damselflies.
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| Hearth-shaped Orchid |
I can not get into Orchids yet but must admit this was quite an impressive flower.
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| Damselfly sp. |
Our next stop was to another woodland for Woodpeckers but again they eluded us but possibly a Grey-headed was there, a call was heard and something flew between the trees but id couldn't be confirmed. In the hamlet nearby a Black Redstart and a an Alba Wagtail were on on a house and several Red-rumped Swallows were seen
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| Black Redstart and Alba Wagtail |
Our next destination was the Trigad Gorge to look for Wallcreeper - this was hopefully my highlight of the trip having only ever seen one before on a twitch to Belgium. It appeared that we had a slow puncture so our next stop was at a garage to have it fixed and while waiting this stunning male Red-backed shrike was across the road.
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| Red-backed Shrike |
Entering the gorge we scanned both sides for about half an hour, we then parked further up the road and had another scan. Lunch was next in the restaurant at the base of the gorge and while there we watched the cliff faces.
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| The Trigrad Gorge |
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| Having lunch |
Just as we were finishing lunch Sandra spotted a Wallcreeper and we got a glimpse of the bird. We then stayed in the car park for around an hour where we had further views but always distant.
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| Wallcreeper |
With our mission completed we now set off to our next hotel, stopping on the way to find a dipper which we did, but it didn't hang around for photos.
Our next hotel was The Fisherman's Lodge in the Devin area.
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| Fisherman's Lodge |
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| Dinner at the lodge |
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| My room at the lodge |
Wednesday 5th June, an early morning walk pre breakfast along the river and Alan put me onto a Dipper.
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| Dipper |
This bird is of a different race to those in the UK - may be one day they will be split as a separate species.
Having had luck with the Wallcreeper yesterday, today we headed to the Eastern Rhodope mountains which were more Mediterranean like, stopping at several sites on the way.
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| Black Stork |
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| Black Stork |
Passing through some lovely scenery and pretty villages we made our way to our next destination of Krumovgrad.
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| Vlado with the minibus and a coffee stop |
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| Leaving the Western Rhodopes |
Before checking into our hotel in Krumovgrad we went to a sight that became known to us as Roller Road due to the Rollers we saw there on every visit but always too far and flighty to photograph. However we were fortunate to get our first sighting of Black Headed Buntings plus views of Bee-eaters and a Lesser Grey Shrike and glimpses of Golden Orioles while Turtle Doves purred overhead.
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| Black-headed Bunting |
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| Lesser Grey Shrike |
We also spotted a Spur-thighed Tortoise crossing the road, Sandra desperate that we saved it from the traffic.
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Stop! mind that Tortoise
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| Spur-thighed Tortoise |
Eventually early evening we checked into the Hotel Divna in the centre of Krumovgrad, with enough time for a shower before dinner.
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| Hotel Divna |
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| Dining area Hotel Divna |
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| Hotel Room, basic but clean and comfortable |
Thursday 6th June this morning we went to several sites within the Eastern Rhodopes, one in particular was
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| One of several stops in the course of the day |
where an assortment of birds and butterflies were seen and another stop at Roller road
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| View from Roller road |
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| Black Stork |
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| Blue-Rockthrush |
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| Cirl Bunting |
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| Fritillery sp. |
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| Kestrel |
Friday 7th June, another day in the Eastern Rhodopes, where we first visited the Roller road again.
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| Red-backed Shrike |
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| Chukar |
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| Eastern Orphean Warbler |
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| Nightingale singing in the open! distant |
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| Turtle Dove |
After the Roller road we visited a couple of more sites passing close to this Stork
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| White Stork |
Arriving at a site for Vultures we saw both Egyptian and Griffon
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| Egyptian Vulture |
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| Griffon Vulture |
Returning back to Krumovgrad where it was very busy as it was market day we took lunch in a Turkish restaurant enjoying Turkish Kebabs
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| Jo enjoying lunch |
To our amusement there were excellent notices in the loos
After lunch we returned to Roller road as I was keen to get a photo of the Golden Orioles that had been calling in the morning but they remained elusive but some Bee-eaters put in an appearance.
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| Bee-eaters |
and a Roller of course
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| Roller |
I opted out of going to any more sites and returned to the hotel, In the evening we had dinner at the hotel and Vlad introduced me to Tezaur a Moldovian Brandy which was most pleasant.
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| Moldovian Brandy |
Saturday 8th, this morning we started our long journey back to Sofia, but first headed towards the Greek and Turkish border to a site for Levant Sparrowhawk, unfortunately only Vlad and Jo got a glimpse.
Meanwhile while looking around a pair of Little-ringed Plovers were close and several insects were of interest.
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| Little-ringed Plover |
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| Banded Demoiselle (Male) |
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| Banded Demoiselle (female) Grasshopper underneath |
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| Fritillary SP |
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| Grasshopper SP ? |
We next headed into the Sakar Hills to a Lesser Kestrel breeding program.
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| Lesser Kestrel Site |
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| Lesser Kestrel nesting boxes |
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| Lesser Kestrel |
Our next stop was at a village where Masked Shrike were know to be, it took quite alot of searching but eventually one was seen that flew into the trees and not to be seen again.
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| There's a Masked Shrike in there somewhere |
In the stream a couple of reptiles were of interest
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| Snake SP |
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| Frog SP |
We now started our journey back towards Sofia, stopping a couple of times. At this lake we added Yellow Wagtail to our list
Our final stop before Sofia was on some Steppe grassland where we added Short-toed and Calandra Lark plus Tawney Pipit
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| Tawney Pipit at distance |
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| Tawney Pipit a bit nearer |
Finally our last bird was another Roller still distant but a good bird to end the trip with
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| Roller |
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| Roller |
We finally reached our hotel early evening, where there was a wedding reception going on that kept some of us awake till late, but not me I had my ear plugs.
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| Vitosha Tulip Hotel Sofia |
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| Bedroom |
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| Bathroom |
The evening was spent in the restaurant with a traditional starter of mixed salad, followed by a delicious pork stir fry/stew Jo opted for squid I think?
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| Pork stir fry/stew |
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| Jo and Chris |
Sunday 9th, we all opted out from an early pre breakfast trip into the Vitosha mountains as there would be nothing new for us, instead we had a leisurely breakfast, packed our bags and headed for the airport.
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| Vitosha Mountains from the hotel |
Our flight was due at 12.05 but we were delayed about half an hour but arriving back in Gatwick around 13.45, the train home was delayed and terminated at Hastings eventually Paula picked me up at 17.30 and I was home by 18.00
A great week away with friends, and so nice to meet Jo who was a pleasure to be with. Pity I got a bit freaked out with being on the edge of cliffs etc. something I must bear in mind with in the future.
Total birds I saw/heard was 131, which included 6 lifers being Black-headed Bunting, Spotted Nutcracker, Lesser Grey Shrike, Semi-collared Flycatcher, Olive Tree Warbler, and Hazel Grouse.
Bird of the trip has to be Hazel Grouse with her chicks followed by the Rollers. Disappointments Woodpeckers didn't put in much of an appearance, probably as we were too late in the year and those Golden Orioles would not show themselves.
Finally many thanks to Vlado for being a great guide and to Dimiter of Neophron tours for arranging this trip for us.
Hopefully a return sometime to Bulgaria and may take in the Danube Delta in Romania aswell
