Last days in Slovenia and the journey home 9th - 20th June

Until this trip I hadn't realised that Slovenia had a coast but then it's only around 20km long so it's easily overlooked.  We stopped in Piran at the Campsite Fiesa which is on the coast and next to a small lake. The lake had singing Reed Warbler and the sparrows here were both House and Italian.

Piran central square

After an evening meal in the old town of Piran we visited the nearby Parco Naturale delle Saline di Sicciole which are working salt pans. It was very hot when we were there, 34°C, and it's a large area that would be worthy of several days rather than our few hours but we saw Kentish Plover, Avocets and Black-winged Stilts, more Italian Sparrows, breeding Yellow-legged Gulls with young and quite a few Little Terns.

Italian Sparrow

From Piran we drove in to Italy and to Camping Realto on the outskirts of Venice. A 5 min bus ride took us into Venice, our first visit since stopping here in 1979 on our overland trip to India and Nepal. We took a 20€ boat trip which lasted about four hours and visited the islands of Murano and Burano.

Venice Grand Canal

Burano

After Venice we drove to the Italian Lakes stopping at Camping Orta by the beautiful town of Orta San Giulio but still no sign of the Muscovy Ducks there. Crossing in to Switzerland via the Simplon Pass we saw Water Pipits and Whinchats but as the temperature here dropped to 12°C and the wind picked up we moved further in to Switzerland and stopped in the hills above Sion. In the morning during a short stroll I could here the distinctive cho-eet call of Western Bonelli's Warblers and after some time I located a male that was also occasionally giving short bursts of their trilling song. The plumage was a little worn but I can put up with that for one of my favourite warblers!

Western Bonelli's Warbler

More Red-backed Shrikes and several Black Kites were in the area.

From Sion we drove in to France via Chamonix and onward to Samoens for a few days with my brother and his wife.

A trip up the Col de Joux Plane produced a nice pair of alpestris Ring Ouzel feeding young in the nest. 

Ring Ouzel - male of the alpine race alpestris with very scaly underparts

I had heard that the Bearded Vultures at Salvagny had been unsuccessful this year so I decided to have a look in the Fer-a-Cheval. As I walked down the track I met a shepherd who asked me what I was looking for and if I had seen the Gypaete. I mentioned the birds at Salvagny but he said no here in the Fer-a-Cheval to which I replied no. I wondered on and about 15 minutes later caught a glimpse of a Bearded Vulture flying close to the rock face before it disappeared. I walked to the area I had last seen it and after several minutes scanning the rock face found it on the edge of a large cave. Frustratingly it was only visible from certain places on the track and there was no way to get closer but I got some record shots of what is perhaps a second breeding pair in the area.

Bearded Vulture

 Finally we left the Alps stopping overnight south of Chaumont and again near Calais before taking the Tunnel back to the UK and bringing another European superb trip to an end.

Croatia 28th May - 9th June

We crossed the impressive toll bridge on to the island of Krk on the afternoon of 28th June and drove down to Krk town where we booked accommodation at Ana Rooms via Booking.com for 65€ (~£58) for 2 nights. The property was within easy walking distance of the centre and close to open countryside in a modern elegant property. I took a walk along a track into a maze of walled olive groves. A Cirl Bunting was singing from the top of a bush and I soon heard several Eastern Subalpine Warblers. I returned to the same area the following morning with a light rain still falling and added Red-backed Shrike plus a distant Lesser Grey Shrike. The latter was rather frustrating as it was sat in the open on top of a bush but the maze of deep drystone walls made it impossible to get closer. Sardinian Warblers were also present with the Eastern Subalpines. 

Cirl Bunting - male in song

The following morning I returned to the Krk Airport area where I had searched in vane for Rock Partridge in 2016.

Krk dry stone walls- the ground was covered in rocks and I concluded they just piled them up to clear the ground?

The signs were not good with heavy rain showers and almost gale force wind. Pam and I trudged up and down the area east of the quarry but it felt hopeless. We disturbed at least 6 Red-backed Shrikes which were sheltering close to the ground out of the wind but couldn't find the partridge. A single Eastern Black-eared Wheatear flew towards the quarry but in the weather conditions there seemed little point in pursuing it so we left the area heading south again hoping for more luck on the island of Pag.
We decided to stay at Nin for four nights at Apartments Ventura which were opposite the small island town of Nin and 
right on the coast. The weather finally started to improve and we enjoyed glorious sunshine here.
On Nin itself there was a large colony of Spanish Sparrow by the church and a pair of Woodchat Shrike.

Woodchat Shrike - female

Nin was badly flooded in 2017 and they were still repairing some of the access roads including that which ran parallel to the salt pans which made access to that area difficult although other than Little Terns and Black-winged Stilts there did not appear to be much bird activity.

Aerial view of the 2017 flooding at Nin on a poster at the town entrance

As we drove in to Nin Pam saw a Pygmy Cormorant sat on a rock close to the old town and subsequently we saw 2 or 3 everyday sat on posts or this same rock.

Pygmy Cormorant

A short walk from the apartment was some open ground with scattered trees, Turtle Doves and Nightingales could be heard with the occasional flutey whistle from Golden Oriole. Several pairs of Red-backed Shrike were courting and I came across a pair of Eastern Subalpine Warblers feeding young in a nest. The female was very elusive but the male came along the tops of the bushes to the nest giving some excellent views. He brought a range of different sizes of spiders, small butterflies and quite a large grasshopper of some kind.

Eastern Subalpine Warbler - male with a cricket

Eastern Subalpine Warbler - male

The male Red-backed Shrikes were very vocal giving a short croaking call that I can't recall hearing before and were clearly in courting mode as they were regularly chasing the females.

Red-backed Shrikes - male and female

From Nin we drove down the coast through Zadar to Lake Vrana. There is a conservation area on its northern edge with a decent boardwalk which gave good views of the lake and the reed bed. Pygmy Cormorants were flying past in ones and twos and there were marsh terns feeding over the lake including both White-winged and Whiskered Terns but they were always distant. Purple Herons kept appearing over the reed beds then disappearing in to them again. From the reeds Great Reed Warblers were calling incessantly with the occasional Cetti's Warbler. A couple of male Montagu's Harriers drifted northwards high over the lake and we also saw singles closer to Nin.

Montagu's Harrier - male

The following morning I got up early and drove round to the island of Pag. There are two linked wetlands on what is otherwise a very barren island so I headed for Veliko Blato which has open water and reed beds.

Sign at Veliko Blato

The edge of the lake is easily accessible and this held several Squacco Herons feeding amongst the sheep. 

Squacco Heron

There were also Crested Larks here and a few waders with singles of Wood Sandpiper and Little-ringed Plover I also saw several Lapwing in a wet area by the main road as I turned off to Veliko Blato. The only raptor was a rather tatty female Marsh Harrier and it was clear that I was at the tail end of migration here although small parties of Bee-eater were still moving. I stopped at various spots for Rock Partridge but without success.
The following morning I had another look around Nin, close to the salt pans I came across a hippolais warbler in song. It was sat out in the open but frustratingly, due to dense vegetation, I couldn't get very close. The song lacked the wheezy nasal elements of Icterine, not sure why its named Melodious though as it was still fast and scratchy. The primary projection was short, pale wing panel very narrow and buffy yellow underparts with yellow restricted to throat so all good for Melodious.

Melodious Warbler

Later that day we drove to Starigrad with a view to driving up to Veliko Rujno but the narrow road had suffered a landslip in the village and was impassable. I tried to find an alternate road to link up above the landslip but nothing connected so we entered the main Paklenica Park entrance. There were many climbers and few birds. Having walked fairly well up the gorge I tried in the low wooded area near the park entrance and soon found a singing Icterine Warbler. Croatia is one of the few countries where their breeding ranges overlap and seeing both species the same day was a real treat. The Icterine had a striking wing panel (although I've recently seen photos of Melodious with a distinct wing panel in the Netherlands so this is not a diagnostic feature). Primary projection was very long, equal to the exposed tertials and the underparts were a more uniform yellow and it looks like a short 1st primary is just visible. The song contained the characteristic repeated wheezy nasal elements.

Icterine Warbler

After leaving the park I had another look for a road up to Veliko Rujno and finally found an alternate route. Stops on the way up produced more Eastern Subalpine and where the paved road ends I had rather poor views of two Eastern Orphean Warblers, calling tack tack which to my ears was the same as Blackcap but no song.
We had a last day at Nin on 2nd June and made another trip to Pag. At a small supermarket at the entrance to Povljana there were both House and Spanish Sparrows together and I saw mating House and mating Spanish but no interspecies mating and no sign of any hybrid birds.

House and Spanish Sparrows

Spanish Sparrows courting with House Sparrow looking on, note the blackish throat on this female

I Left Pam by the beach at Povljana and drove over to Veliko Malo, just as I left the shoreline a Rock Partridge flew over the road in front of me and appeared to land in a rocky field.
I parked up and scanned the field, no sign. I waited and after several minutes it appeared below a bush, stood still for 30 seconds then moved out of view.

Rock Partridge

I waited another 15 minutes with no further sign then I heard a second bird calling some distance away and picked it up on top of a wall. It was distant but stood out in the open, Rock Partridge at last.

Rock Partridge

Whilst they may not be guaranteed on Pag or Krk the chances of seeing them and getting decent views appear a lot higher than on the hills of Paklenica or for that matter the French or Swiss Alps.

Rock Partridge habitat on Pag

The following day we moved to Camp Igor on the coastal southern edge of Starigrad. Early the next morning I walked up a paved road just south of the campsite and almost immediately heard the flutey song of Eastern Orphean Warbler, then another and within half an hour I counted at least six singing males. They appeared to choose the tops of the tallest trees as song post but after an hour or so I managed some reasonable photos.

Eastern Orphean Warbler - males

All the males I saw had irises that were only a slightly lighter blue grey than the pupil. The dark blotches on the under tail coverts are just visible on the lower bird as well as the extensive bluish bill base which help to distinguish Eastern from Western Orphean.

From Starigrad we started to head back north stopping at a large but empty campsite by the pretty fishing village of Klenovica and then continuing on to Pula in Istria where we stayed in Apartment T&S off Booking.com €124 (~£111) for 4 nights. A couple of km from Pula centre but walkable.

Pula amphitheatre

The amphitheatre at Pula is certainly spectacular and its a decent town centre. Nearby a promontory sticks out in to the Adriatic which forms the southern tip of Istria and is a protected area called Kamenjak. At times in the spring it must be alive with birds but Pam and I had the usual Eastern Subalpine Warblers, Red-backed Shrikes plus Woodlark and Tawny Pipit with lots of Shag off shore and a couple of orchids but apparently there are 30 species to be found here.

Tawny Pipit

 About 30km to the north of Pula there is another reserve, a coastal swamp called Palud. There were very few birds and lots of mosquitos when we visited but I could imagine it pulling birds in when the weather is right.

Palud reserve from the small hide

We saw Shelducks, Eastern Subalpine Warblers this time feeding fledged young and a few Little Egrets.
After Pula we headed north back in to Slovenia but we stopped a couple of times on the way to look at wooded and scrub areas. One bird I hadn't seen this trip was Sombre Tit although we'd looked in many areas that looked suitable but had no luck, are there Sombre Tit in Istria? Stopping near Pazin we came across a lovely group of flowering Lizard Orchids before finally leaving Croatia.

Lizard Orchid

On the road to Croatia 21st - 28th May

I've only visited Croatia once before when I went to the island of Krk in April 2016 looking, unsuccessfully, for Rock Partridge. It's an interesting country and ornithologically it marks where east meets west for a number of European species which either just reach Croatia from the west or extend no further west than Croatia from the east, if that makes sense? It's also probably the most reliable country in which to see Rock Partridge so with the promise of some interesting stops on route Pam and I set off in the camper late on 21st May to catch the midnight ferry to Dunkirk spending our first night in a lay-by on the Belgium border.

Our route to Croatia with stops highlighted

Our first stop was Bruges and as luck would have it, or so I thought, a Black-winged Kite had been reported the previous day about 5km from our campsite at Memling so that was our first stop. We wondered around an unremarkable road side for about an hour with few birds and no birders in sight then headed to our campsite and walked in to Bruges.

Bruge central square

Heading towards Luxembourg we stopped in SE Belgium at Chateau Lavaux-Sainte-Anne, Pam paid €5 for a walk around the Chateau whilst I walked around the small lake. A Bluethroat was singing from a small island on the lake and there were distant Honey Buzzards over the woods but Pam saw many more birds as the Chateau was filled with stuffed birds!
Our 3rd overnight stop was at the tiny village of Rodemack just inside France on the border with Luxembourg. The weather was warm and sunny and the local woods resounded to the songs and calls of Nightingale and Golden Oriole with Wryneck calling in an apple orchard. In the evening Nightjars churred around the camping area.

Nightingale in song

The following morning I added Black Kite and Marsh Harrier to the raptor list before we continued on our way.
Our next stop, chosen at random from places close to the route we were following, was at Blaubeuren between Stuttgart and Munich. Steep wooded sides to a valley had several Red Kites circling overhead and the river had Dipper by a picturesque water mill. A Marsh Warbler was singing by the river but evaded my attempts for a photo. Fieldfare were nesting around an area of parkland and we saw what was almost our only White Stork of the trip crossing the valley. 
Pam had highlighted a number of places on the journey that she wanted to visit and one of these was Hallstatt the iconic Austrian lakeside town. We had booked accommodation for a couple nights in Obertraun at the Sportspension Schober which proved to be a good choice as we could walk the 5km to Hallstatt or as it turned out catch a small boat and walk back. 
There were not many birds but Lesser Whitethroat and our first of many Black Redstarts were new for the trip. The weather had deteriorated and we arrived in the rain but fortunately we had decent weather for our visit to Hallstatt. The vast majority of visitors  were Chinese and we were surprised to hear that a replica of Hallstatt has been built in China!

Hallstatt in the rain

After Hallstatt we crossed the border in to Slovenia and stopped at Bled at a campsite right by the lake. It rained all the time we were there which was frustrating as Bonelli's Warblers were singing in the campsite and it was a difficult decision whether to stay and wait for better weather or continue. The weather forecast was poor for several days ahead so we decided to continue southward making a stop at Lake Cerknica. Light rain was still falling but I spent a couple of hours around the lake and had reasonable views of Ashy-headed Wagtails (Motacilla cinereocapilla) which the lake is well known for.

Ashy-headed Wagtail - males

Ashy-headed Wagtail - female type

At least a dozen Hobby were hawking over the lake but very distant. Several Serin were in bushes close to the track and I heard another Marsh Warbler but the persistent rain got the better of me and we continued on crossing the border in to Croatia which was only about 90 mins south of Cerknica.
Our next stop was on the island of Krk which I'll cover in the next post.

Lake Bled Slovenia