Our journey up the Black Sea Coast continued today as we left Burgas and headed for Krapets some 80km north of Varna. We took an early breakfast so no early morning walk, it was overcast and threatened rain but it never materialise
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| Lunchtime near Varna |
We only drove for 20 minutes when we made our first birding stop which was at the Salt pans at Pomarie. A lot of development work was going on near the salt pans so there was a lot of disturbance, consequently there were very few birds nearby. However we had a great time in lovely sunshine watching many terns in the bay. A large wooden raft provided nesting sites for a large number of Sandwich Terns we could see many eggs on the sandy surface. A few Common Terns fed nearby and the diminutive Little Terns were diving into the water very near to us. Other birds seen were Common Shelduck, some distant Mute Swans, Black-winged Stilts and Avocets.
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| Eagle Owl on the nest - there were chicks behind her (digiscoped form a long way away) |
Continuing along the coast road for a few kilometers we then turned inland to visit a few prime spots on the Eastern end of the Central Balkan Mountains. We climbed steadily for a while before stopping in a lovely shallow valley. A rocky stream was surrounding by open scrub and some areas of oak woodland, superb habitat for a variety of species. A Barred Warbler delivered its melodious song from the nearest bushes whilst Red-rumped Swallows came down to collect mud and agroup of Bee-0eaters were nesting in the bank of the stream. A couple of Common Cuckoos chased one another around whilst they in turn were being chased by finches and sparrows.
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| The 'plain' looking Isabelline Wheatear |
A lovely Isabelline Wheatear sat on a small building nicely for our cameras, many Spanish Sparrows chipped from the nearby oak copse and a single Steppe Buzzard drifted by, it was a lovely spot. A little further up the valley the road climbed to the very peak of the hills, the view from the top was stunning and gave a great opportunity to look for migrating raptors etc. We did see a few Honey buzzards, a distant flock of White Pelicans and a swarm of White Storks. In the scrub and open grassland all around us we found Common and Lesser Whitethroat, Skylark, Crested Lark, Corn and Black Headed Bunting, Woodchat, Red-0backed and Lesser Grey Shrikes. A Hawfinch kept flying close to us and dropping down to a puddle of water to drink, that was nice to see. Another Steppe Buzzard put in an appearance just before we drove on. Our route took us through kilometer after kilometer of oak woodland and then open fields, we saw several Jays, Jackdaws and Rollers during this part of the journey.
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| got to be a favourite of most people - Red-rumped Swallow |
We ate a superb lunch at a roadside restaurant before continuing north and after another hour we rejoined the coast road near Balchik where we stopped to look at an Eagle Owl nest site. The Owl showed very well for us and our next stop was real treat and a nice surprise. Iordan our local guide had seen some Demoiselle Cranes last week during another tour so he led us to the place where they had been see. Sure enough there we two of these beauties feeding in some arable land not from from a track, what a great result, these birds are a rare sighting in Bulgaria, in fact they are rare anywhere west of the Black Sea.
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| very distant shots of the Demoiselle Cranes you can just about make out the red eye |
We spent an hour at the Crane site and found a huge variety of species in the afternoon sunlight, we had a wonderful time. A large flock of Bee-eaters were nesting in a mound of earth near a farm, both Stonechat and Whinchat flitted about the wheat fields, Rollers and Turtle Doves sat on the wires and were joined by Corn Buntings, Black headed Buntings and Common Whtitethroats. We heard Common Quail calling from the gassy fields, a Common Pheasant was seen along the lane hedgerow, Nightingales and Golden Orioles called from deep in the bushes and a Hoopoe called in the distance.
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| Silver Studded Blue ssp. |
Finally we moved on and drove for another 30 minutes eventually arriving at our coastal hotel near a village called Krapets, I hope the hotel isn't too much like Krapets the village which was run down and badly in need of some repair.
Thankfully the hotel was fine and the food superb, we sat out on the terrace to eat it whilst looking out sea, it was a lovely spot.
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