Bulgaria 2023 - 17th to 30th September (Part 1)

   Although I rarely get the time to write blogs or trip reports anymore, I thought I'd actually try and record a few of my annual highlights on here as a personal diary, just as I did when I first started blogging when I was 14. 

For my undergraduate dissertation for Geography, I decided to focus on researching 'wilding' and the potential ecological benefits of 'rewilding' style land management. In my second year, the green economy and similar regularly featured across lectures, readings and essays; as a result, by the early spring I'd planned a trip to Bulgaria to do some fieldwork on land bought by friend and ecologist Peter Alfrey. With various grants helping to cover most of the trip, it was one I prepared for early and was thus extremely excited for by the summer, especially as it was my first time going on a 'research' trip abroad.

Peter's plot after pond construction/meadow management

Peter's plot from another angle

Dawn from my window - what a view 

Pete's plot

Day 1:

   After an early start and a morning of travel, we arrived in Varna in the early afternoon Bulgarian time, racing through security etc in under 25 minutes. Waiting for the car to be ready produced my first Crested Lark in over 5 years, singing on the terminal building, whilst a Spotted Flycatcher was the first migrant we saw as we left the airport. We stopped at the all important Lidl on the way to Kamen Bryag, the home of Peter's wilding plot - we then started to notice migrant birds alongside the road, indicating the rain and winds that morning had dropped things in. Red-backed Shrikes (a lifer for me at the time, funny,) Turtle Doves, Spotted Fly and Barn and Red-rumped Swallows were some of the most abundant species seen from the car.

Ironically, the 'fall' we got on the first afternoon didn't get topped again for the two weeks which followed. The ideal winds and weather for September along the Black Sea coast we found to be westerlies with cloud and rain - we got cloud infrequently, NW once, and rain not again whilst there. Only birders would complain about a lack of rain, though admittedly I didn't massively mind the crisp, consistent 25C temperatures. Nonetheless, we made the most of that first afternoon. With bags hauled inside, we headed straight out into the field for 90 minutes of birding before dark. I always find migration falls a bit magical, especially of small passerines. Red-breasted Flycatchers (another lifer at the time) were quite obviously everywhere that evening, with totals just in the southern end of the town being at least 34 individuals, likely way more. A Corncrake was with a Hoopoe in someone's garden, whilst Spotfly and juvenile Red-backed Shrikes were occupying most bushes. With a supporting cast of Nightjar at dusk, site first Ringed Plover and plenty of other migrants scattered across the town, there wasn't much to be disappointed about for a first day. 

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Tortoise

Day 2:

   Sleep catchup was followed by a trip down to Cape Kaliakra for first light, Kaliakra being almost the equivalent to the Black Sea's Spurn Point. There'd been a clearout in migrants overnight, although a good mix of species was noted in the 3 or so hours we were there. In between Pete figuring out it was his birthday and me remembering I'd not brought my sound recorder, some of the highlights at sea were Yelkouan Shearwaters and Little Stints, overhead 'Steppe' and Honey Buzzard, and in the bushes Whinchat, Redstarts, Wheatears, Red-backed Shrikes, Red-breasted Flycatchers etc. A mix of warblers were also noted, though none in large numbers. A little personal highlight was probably the Hoopoe that came in-off the Black Sea, first appearing as a floating dot before crashing down nearby. In-off migration, so so good.

The afternoon was spent exploring Kamen Bryag, conducting my first odonata and lepidoptera surveys, and getting a general feel for all the 1.15 acre plots of land in the town. Black Redstart was nice, whilst a flyby Sanderling from the window was a site first. We then went for dinner and a drink for Pete's birthday at his favourite restaurant in a nearby town, scoring a Nightjar on the drive there. Pete enjoyed a glass of wine and a shopska salad, I did similar with a beer, a deserved finish to Day2.

in-off Hoopoe

Ruff

Wheatear

Willow Warbler

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

juv Red-backed Shrike

male RBF

Mallow Skipper

Corn Bunting

Syrian Woodpecker

Hoopoe

Day 3:

   This was my first day of full surveys, starting what became pretty much the norm for me for the next 10 days or so. From 7 till around 930am I did a 10 minute fixed point bird count at each of the 6 plots I'd set, before doing a butterfly/dragonfly count at each in the middle of the day, and for half the days evening counts too. With what I call 'summer' autumn starting to progress onwards more, the morning of the 19th was probably the best day for migrant diversity. The only seen Wryneck of the trip was seen by 'Plot 2c,' European Bee-eaters (what a bird) were on the move throughout the morning, 2 close Lesser Spotted Eagles drifted through, my first 7 Levant Sparrowhawks did the same, Golden Orioles were catcalling whilst Hoopoe were loitering on the roads. By the afternoon, more passerines emerged, and an Osprey drifted through. This was one of my favourite days looking back - birding was quietly productive. There were things to see everywhere and constantly, whether Redstarts and flycatchers or raptors and 'vismigging' wagtails. A short seawatch produced an in-off Levant Sparrowhawk, initially noticed over the water as it came in. 

In the late afternoon, Peter went to pick up Roger, a birder from Beddington, who was joining us for a week. I was briefly worried at their 4hr absence (it's half an hour drive to Kavarna, where he was being dropped off;) turned out they were just stopping every few metres on the drive back due to the number of birds to be seen. It was definitely a day of White (and Yellow) Wagtails, with 000s of the former gathering on the roads before roost. Another Nightjar after dark on the drive to dinner topped off the day, which even included some work for me.

Euro Bee-eater

Red-rumped Swallow

RBF

Wryneck

Levant

Lesser Spotted Eagles

Little Owl

Wilwa

Redstart

Spotted Flycatcher

Grizzled Skipper

Redstart

Eastern Bath White

Clouded Yellow

Levant Sparrowhawk in-off

Day 4:

   Peter and Roger went to Kaliakra in the am, which I opted out of. It could've been much worse for me, adding Ortolan Bunting - a calling bird that flew out of one of my plots - to my life list, as well as Purple Heron to the site list with three that moved through SE early morning. I spent some time recording Calandra Lark, which were singing over one of the plots. Otherwise it was definitely a morning of vismig. A pulse of Swallows, worth at least 1200 birds, moved through at dawn, followed by 775 Spanish Sparrows, a bird I didn't expect to be getting such large numbers of on vismig. My first Red-throated Pipits also went through, calling alongside Tree Pipits. With the early pm butterfly shift quiet, producing trip tick 3 Siskin as well as plenty of woodpecker action (Syrian, Lesser Spotted, Great Spotted and Green,) we went to Shabla Tuzla in the afternoon, a salt lake good for waders and terns about 20 minutes away from home. Here we noted Little Stints, Greater Flamingoes, 5 Sanderling and 3 Wood Sandpipers amongst other waders. 

Spanish Sparrows mig

Purple Herons

Willow wanting to be a Radde's

Cardinal Fritillary

Ringed Plover

Little Stints

Little Stint

Scarce Copper

Eastern Bath White

Day 5:

   Day 5 started in similar fashion to Day 4, just with even more vismigging Swallows, Red-rumped Swallows and Spanish Sparrows. 17 Tree and 8 Red-throated Pipit were nice, whilst Hawfinch (12) and Turtle Dove (8) numbers were also up. A Nightingale was new in, alongside 2 Ring Ouzel, found by Pete on his plot as he went through moths, a local scarcity it seemed. Both were juveniles of the alpestris subspecies, with one kindly making it onto one of my counts. 

The bird of the day was an exhausted River Warbler strangely camping on the floor of the nearby oak woodland found by Roger and Pete, a lifer for all three of us before it eventually fell asleep. We then got a bit of false hope, as raptor migration seemed to kick off late morning. As well as a mix of Honey/Long-legged Buzzard, Lesser Spotted Eagles, Levant Sparrowhawks and Ospreys, 54 Spoonbill pushed through together. Going to a raptor viewpoint for the early afternoon was a slight gamble, producing small numbers of a range of species, most notably Short-toed Eagle. A few Black Redstart were decent, as were 4 White Stork (the only ones of the trip) from my window at home when we got back. Joined by Peter's nephew Dylan who was staying a few days, we went for a dinner out locally, joined by a group of Alpine Swifts. 

Turtle Doves

Tree Pipit

River Warbler

Day 6:

   A full day of surveys, with the highest day count for Kamen Bryag (61sp) achieved too. The highlight was an early morning vismig again with Roger, where Swallow passage between 7-740am surpassed at least 5000 birds. Red-throated Pipit passage continued, whilst Whinchat, Redstart, Wheatears, flycatchers and an increase in warblers were noted. 2 Black Kite joined the ever-growing raptor list, the 11th raptor sp of the day. Arguably the highlight for the 22nd was seeing over 15 Convolvus Hawkmoths feeding at dusk - I'd never seen them before, so my first being in this style was welcome.

Bee-eaters

Day 7:

   From Day 6 to 9, I was essentially just doing survey, bird, eat, sleep, repeat. Roger and Peter left in the early afternoon to go down to Burgas for a few days of all out birding, leaving me to do my research on my own. Stocked up on enough water, food and resources to keep me going, I quietly ticked about doing my surveys, the highlights being my first Tawny Pipit, a few Tree Sparrow and Garden Warbler, and a handful of Turtle Doves in one of my plots in addition to all the 'usuals.' Calandra Larks were flocking together, warbler, Bee-eater (65) and Red-backed Shrike (19) numbers continued to increase. A brief mid afternoon seawatch was eventful, with a Hobby hunting Wheatears after coming in-off, alongside the weirdest plastic pigeon/dove I've seen, that had me perplexed for a while. Birds actually at sea were limited in diversity, mostly being Mediterranean Gulls and Sandwich Terns.

Common Blue

juv Red-backed Shrike

Bee-eater

Turtle Dove on a plot at dusk

Day 8:

   I finally had a lie-in, succumbing to a week of early starts. A slight switch to N from the persistent NE winds meant raptors were on the move again by lunchtime, the best place to watch from being our accommodation balcony - Short-toed E (4,) Lesser Spotted E (13,) Levant S (5,) Long-legged Buzzard (1) made up the majority of the mix. 22 Red-backed Shrike was a high count, it felt they were marking every area of scrubland, chacking away at each other. Otherwise the main highlight was another afternoon fall of Red-breasted Flycatcher, perhaps also aided by the switch in winds. 33 were noted across the southern end of town by dusk, with probably upwards of 50 birds across the entire town. This supported the suspicions that the Black Sea Coast may be more of an 'afternoon' fall place, much like Spurn and the East coast can be in the UK. 

Bee-eater

Lesser Spotted Eagle + gulls

Calandra Lark

Hoopoe