Durankulak Wetlands - Cape Kaliakra -
We stayed
in the north east corner of Bulgaria today quite close to the Romanian border.
It was dull and overcast when we got up and it threatened rain. However despite
the clouds and a brisk wind it was still quite warm and humid.
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| Views of one of the three very confiding Goldcrests at Cape Kaliakra |
After a
breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast we set off for the wetlands on the coast
at Durankulak where a large reedbed with open lagoons lies adjacent to the
beach. Along the approach road we found
several Red Backed Shrikes and a single Great Grey Shrike. Many flocks of migrant
Chaffinches filled the sky and hundreds of sparrows and Corn Buntings fed in
the fields. Common Starlings lined the wires in their thousands and we found a
couple of flocks of Rooks, our first ones for the trip.
At the car
quite a few birds were flitting around the bushes, we found both Spanish and
Tree Sparrows, Willow Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Common Redstart, a couple of
Red-breasted Flycatchers and a few Robins.
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| bad pictures in bad light of Syrian Woodpecker |
A bout of
sea-watching was interesting, we were facing into a brisk breeze but it had the
advantage of blowing the passing birds quite close to the shoreline. We saw lot
of Med Gulls, Yellow-legged Gulls and the occasional Little Gull, many Sandwich
Terns were joined by a couple of Caspian Terns and several Shags flew by. A
large group of Great Cormorants lined the beach and a huge flock of 100 Pygmy
Cormorants flew over us followed by six Eurasian Spoonbills. On the sea we found Black-necked Grebe, Great
Crested Grebe and a small flock of Yelkouan Shearwaters flew by.
The reeds
were being blown all over the place but we still managed to find a small flock
of Bearded Tits and a single Pygmy Cormorant was sitting in one of the lagoons.
During the couple of hours we spent there we also Marsh Harrier, Common
Buzzard, Long-legged Buzzard, Common kestrel and two or three Eurasian
Sparrowhawks,
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| Willow Warbler |
We left the
area and drove back south to look at a lagoon called Shabla Lake; unfortunately
the lagoon was almost completely dry. We saw a few waders which included Ringed
Plover, Kentish Plover, Ruff, Dunlin, Little Stint and two Wood Sandpipers.
Also out on the mud were a dozen or so of Teal and a Water Rail. Around the car
park there many migrant birds most of which are listed above, but three Red
Breasted Flycatchers were nice to see again!
We stopped
for lunch in one of the villages before driving to the headland at Cape
Kaliakra where spent a pleasant time exploring the area around the Roman ruins,
In the bushes and scrub area we listed quite a few migrants, new to our day
list were Goldcrest (we found 3 in one small pine tree), Lesser Whitethroat,
Whinchat and more Red-breasted Flycatchers. From midday the wind had dropped
and it became quite hot and humid so we stood in the shade and looked out over
a flat calm sea. A pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins fed just offshore and a
gathering of Cormorants and Shags could be seen on the rocks.
A quick
search of the scrub near the entrance to the cape produced a number of species
most of which we had recorded already today and none of them was new for the
trip list. Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Whinchat, Red-breasted
Flycatcher, Peregrine Falcon, Blackcaps, Willow Warbler, Song Thrushes and
Robins (both migrants).
From the
Cape we set off on our return journey to Sofia, we planned to do this over the
three days; the first stage was to drive some 100km inland to a small cottage
owned by guide and friend Iordan. We passed many kilometers of arable field and
the town of Dobrich before turning into country lanes and to the village of
Ognyanovo What an idyllic setting, deep in the heart of the North-eastern Bulgarian
countryside, lovely rolling hills and intersected with deep ravine and gorges. Birds
were everywhere especially in the garden of Iordan's cottage. There are two
photographic hides, one is built below ground level in front of a garden pool so that your eye level is the same as that of the water level, and
the other is a tower hide situated in front of a large walnut tree with lots of
dead branches right in front of the hide. Birds then perched within 2-3 meters of your camera, smashing if you have a camera and not a digiscope set-up!!
We spent a quiet
in the hide before it got dark, lots of Song Thrushes were flitting about we
also saw Great Spotted Woodpecker and Syrian Woodpecker, a Common Pheasant flew
by and both Green and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker called from the nearby
woodland. A Little owl called as got down from the tower and retired for the
night.
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