The first day of the second tour of Bulgaria started in central Sofia. Steve, Roz and Jim had arrived yesterday, we had a couple of hours to kill this morning so we took a walk in one of the local parks called Borisovata Gradina (Boris's Garden), which, in fact, is a thickly wooded area with some open sections and lots of sports facilities embedded within it. We saw Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers, Robin, Greenfinch, Song Thrush, Jay, Magpie, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Eurasian Nuthatch, Hooded Crow, Common Swift and Alpine Swift, and we also heard Blackcap and Grey Headed Woodpecker.
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| some of the group in the quarry |
Our mini-bus collected us from our hotel at 10:45. in order to get to the airport by 11am to collect Teresa, Richard and Peter. Iordan, our co-leader and local bird guide, joined us along the way.
By 11:30am we were on our way, the sun was shining through broken cloud and everyone was in a good mood in anticipation for some super birding ahead of us. We traveled for a couple of hours making
one stop for toilets etc our journey birds so far included: White
Stork, Lapwing, Red-rumped Swallow, Raven, Common Buzzard, Common
Kestrel, Common Cuckoo and lots of hirundines.
At Pazardzhik we stopped to buy lunch and then drove a short distance out of town to eat it. Our lunch stop was along a track that led to a disused quarry, it overlooked a few miles of arable farmland and some scrubland. Over the next hour we logged several species, the colourful Black-headed Bunting proved to be a crowd pleaser but we also found Crested Lark, Corn Bunting (my two favourite species - not!), Calandra Lark, Tree & Spanish Sparrow, Little Owl, Northern Wheatear, Long-legged Buzzard, a distant Tawny Pipit and we heard a Hoopoe calling.
From the quarry we began our journey into the Rhodope Mountains, but first we stopped to admire a Hoopoe sitting on a pole 'singing' loudly. Just before we passed through Krichim we logged Turtle Dove and Isabelline Wheatear. The long winding road climbed up into the mountains, we passed Devin (where the main production of mineral water occurs) and onto Teshel where we stopped to watch Dipper which went onto the day list with Raven and Grey Wagtail.
The last few kilometers were delightful, we passed through breath taking scenery, steep sided gorges, limestone tunnels and a quintessential babbling brook. At Yagodina we had reached our destination and our hotel for the first night, this tranquil little 'hamlet' is set high up in the mountains in the most picturesque valley.
Our last species of the day were seen around the hotel; White Wagtail, Black Redstart, Tree Sparrow, Hooded Crow, Serin, Marsh Tit and Magpie.
We ate a lovely trout dinner and drank a nice cold beer. Our log call was short as we only saw 53 species during the day.
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| Spanish Sparrow |
At Pazardzhik we stopped to buy lunch and then drove a short distance out of town to eat it. Our lunch stop was along a track that led to a disused quarry, it overlooked a few miles of arable farmland and some scrubland. Over the next hour we logged several species, the colourful Black-headed Bunting proved to be a crowd pleaser but we also found Crested Lark, Corn Bunting (my two favourite species - not!), Calandra Lark, Tree & Spanish Sparrow, Little Owl, Northern Wheatear, Long-legged Buzzard, a distant Tawny Pipit and we heard a Hoopoe calling.
From the quarry we began our journey into the Rhodope Mountains, but first we stopped to admire a Hoopoe sitting on a pole 'singing' loudly. Just before we passed through Krichim we logged Turtle Dove and Isabelline Wheatear. The long winding road climbed up into the mountains, we passed Devin (where the main production of mineral water occurs) and onto Teshel where we stopped to watch Dipper which went onto the day list with Raven and Grey Wagtail.
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| Elephant Rock - use your imagination! |
The last few kilometers were delightful, we passed through breath taking scenery, steep sided gorges, limestone tunnels and a quintessential babbling brook. At Yagodina we had reached our destination and our hotel for the first night, this tranquil little 'hamlet' is set high up in the mountains in the most picturesque valley.
Our last species of the day were seen around the hotel; White Wagtail, Black Redstart, Tree Sparrow, Hooded Crow, Serin, Marsh Tit and Magpie.
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| Dipper at Teshel |
We ate a lovely trout dinner and drank a nice cold beer. Our log call was short as we only saw 53 species during the day.
Pazardzhik Krichin Devin (where the main production of mineral water occurs)
Yagodina
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