MAY 13TH 2013 - BULGARIA DAY 1 – TOUR 1

LONDON TO SOFIA – TRIGRAD GORGE WESTERN RHODOPE MOUNTAINS

We all assembled at London Gatwick for the 6am flight to Sofia, 14 members of the Cheltenham bird Club and me.

Our flight left on time and arriveD early at Sofia at 10:50am local time, great flight and the smoothest landing ever. The weather was bright and sunny with some cloud and a bit of a breeze. After meeting up with our local guide, Iordan, and mounting the bus, we were quickly on our way out of the city. A few birds went straight onto the list in the suburbs, Common Starling, Collared Dove, Red-rumped Swallow, Common Swift and Common Buzzard. A White Stork sat on a huge nest on top of a chimney whilst several pairs of Spanish Sparrows built their nests inside the stork’s nest!

Crested Lark

About 2 hours into our journey to the south east region we stopped for a break, this was just south of Pazardzhik where a disused quarry was an ideal place to eat our picnic lunch. More birds went on the list: Long-legged Buzzard, Red Backed Shrike, Black-headed Bunting and Crested lark all showed well. Then the scopes came out from the suit cases and more birds were found, Corn Bunting (my favourite), Calandra Lark, Skylark and lots of Tree Sparrows. We watched another couple of Long-legged Buzzards at their nest and a pair of Peregrines circled over the hillside with a single Common Kestrel following suit.  

Dipper taken the hotel

A short walk produced a few more species before we drove off, a pair of Stone Curlews was nice as was a pair of Northern Wheatears, then a couple of Bee-eaters flew over with distant House Martins and Barn Swallows also getting onto our list.

Another two hours on the road saw the landscape change from open arable farmland to steep sided mountains and flooded valleys. We added Common Magpie, Isabelline Wheatear and lots of Hooded Crows to the list. A few people at the back of the bus saw a European Roller.

some of the group walking up to the quarry

At 5:30pm we reached our hotel whih is tucked into the side of a steep ravine, a wonderful setting, it also sits  besides a mountain stream. During the afternoon it had clouded over and soon it was raining hard – and it still is as I write this at 6:30pm, no further birding will take place today. A few birds called over the last hour, Blackbird, Green Woodpecker and Jay.