Nessebar, Bulgaria - 10th - 21st June 2011

Things have been quiet on the blog of late due to problems with my laptop which still infected with viruses and is soon to end up through the window! There have been a few trips out mainly to Brockholes and Stags Lodge but I thought I'd come back with our recent trip to Nessebar in Bulgaria. The trip didn't go to well as far as birds went but we did well with Butterflies which will be on a later post once I've ID them all. On the visit to Bulgaria we spent a day in a reserve on the Turkey / Bulgarian border but most of the birds were photographed in and around the hotel complex and having forgoten to take my charger these are few and far between.

 ABOVE AND BELOW YELLOW LEGGED GULL

The trip out looked promising with several nesting Stork on view and Little Egret, Grey Heron and Cormarant seen out of the Land Rover as we passed a wetland. Once we arrived at the national park though things took a downturn as we were accompanied by 60 Ukranian kids on a summer camp, you can't imagine!! Dipper & Kingfisher were 2 good birds along with a Grey Wagtail but chance of seeing much else went out the window. Apparantly there are Bears on the reserve and we hoped the kids would come across one!!

ABOVE AND BELOW GOLDEN ORIOLE 

The hotel grounds was fruitful with a Golden Oriole seen daily along with a Jay, Swift, House Martin, Swallow and House Sparrow all nesting on site. Yellow-legged Gulls were the only gulls we saw on the trip and were abundant around the hotel.

ABOVE AND BELOW CRESTED LARK 

 We discovered a Crested Lark on a walk into Nessebar, the local town and even though we spent 2 hours in the heat searching around a local sand dune reserve we didn't see much else.

ABOVE JAY BELOW WHITETHROAT

 Other birds on the trip iincluded Starling, Hooded Crow, Jackdaw, White Wagtail, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, and Goldfinch. Not a great list but I think we'll return in the coming years, next time hiring a car and spending a bit more time birding.