Bialowieza, Poland 6th -10th May

We arrived at the U Michala campsite on the outskirts of Bialowieza late afternoon on Saturday, the temperature was a very pleasant 26°C and we enjoyed our evening meal in the open air to the sound of Wrynecks calling.

Dinner at U Michala Campsite

That night it started raining and, on and off, it continued most of the following day. The mid day temperature fell to around 11°C but although in remained overcast the next couple of days were mainly dry. Today Tuesday 9th May it has turned cold with an early morning temperature of 3°C and a bitter wind with frequent snow showers but with blue skies between. It appears that the weather in Poland is as variable as the UK!
Bialowieza is famous, amongst other things for the number of species of woodpecker in its woodlands and on our first day I managed White-backed in addition to the much commoner Great Spotted Woodpecker. 

White-backed Woodpecker

Over the next couple of days I added several Middle Spotted and Black Woodpeckers but despite extensive searches couldn't find Three-toed. Hopefully I'll find this northern species elsewhere on the trip.

Middle Spotted Woodpecker

The Palace Park in the centre of the village is one of the premier birding spots. This building in the park is one of the oldest buildings in the area, constructed in 1845. 

The old lodge, Palace Park

During my first visit to the park I had found a very obliging Collared Flycatcher at a nest site. I thought the female might already be incubating but the following day I saw both birds carrying nesting material in to the hole. 

Collared Flycatcher - male

Collared Flycatcher - female

Another Flycatcher which breeds no further West in Europe than Poland is the Red-breasted Flycatcher and I managed a single male singing from high in the tree canopy.

Red-breasted Flycatcher - male

A single Common Rosefinch was giving its simple whistle from on of the islands on the lake but this is the only bird I encountered during our stay so I must be slightly ahead of their arrival date. Another bird which attracts birders to Eastern Poland is the Thrush Nightingale which replaces the Nightingale of Central and Southern Europe here. I only came across half a dozen different birds so the main contingent must also still be on their way. Like the Nightingale the Thrush Nightingale is not easy to photograph singing its powerful song from deep within a bush but after several attempts I finally found a more cooperative bird. 

Thrush Nightingale

Birds of prey have been few and far between but on our first day a Lesser Spotted Eagle flew overhead carrying an item of prey, presumably to a nearby nest although we never saw the bird again.

Lesser Spotted Eagle -showing the upper wing

Visiting Eastern and Northern Europe one of the birds I was hoping to see was the Long-tailed Tit, here the species has an all white head making it look quite different from the subspecies we see at home. I have only seen one once before, at Easington in 2005 so was pleased to find a couple of birds today that allowed me to capture some photos.

Northern Long-tailed Tit

Apart from a glimpse of Roe Deer in the forest the only mammal we have seen is the Red Squirrel, and this individual posed well whilst eating a Larch cone.

Red Squirrel

In spite of all the birds and other wildlife, the most famous wild inhabitant of the area around Bialowieza is the European Bison. Extinct in the wild in 1919 when the last wild animal was poached the animal was reintroduced in 1952 from zoo stock and the wild population now numbers over 1000 animals in eastern Poland and neighbouring Belarus. We saw captive animals when we visited the Bison enclosure whilst looking for Red-breasted Flycatcher but so far I haven't managed to see the wild animals but will have another look early tomorrow morning before we move north to Biebrza.

Captive European Bison

Berlin to Bialowieza, Poland

It rained all day on the 4th May, which we spent in Berlin. I wanted to see the Tiergarten woodland which is home to the highest concentration of urban Goshawks in Europe. I did hear a bird call and I saw what could have been occupied nests but in the rain it wasn’t worth spending a lot of time looking in what is quite a large woodland. Several Wood Warbler were new for the trip and there were also Pied Flycatchers but I didn’t see much else.

Berlin's Tiergarten

We left Berlin around 07:00 and we quickly found ourselves in Poland, there were no stops at the border crossing just a slight slowing of the traffic at the customs buildings. After about a 6 hour drive we decided to stop near Warsaw and found a nice campsite on the edge of the Kampinoski Park. There were Lesser Whitethroats, nesting Fieldfare and several more Wood Warblers at the camp site. We spent a couple of hours near Roztoka where we had Common Crane, White Storks and calling Corncrake in the grasslands, these were briefly disturbed by a smart looking Fox.

Fox with White Storks and Common Crane in the background

 More Wood Warblers in the woodland plus Willow Tit but nothing more notable during our late afternoon visit. The temperature has been in the low teens Centigrade but it warmed up today getting to 21 degrees.
Our initial problems with the camper van have not been repeated and we have both been very impressed with the vehicle. This morning we continued on to Bialowieza close to the Belarus border in north-eastern Poland. Along the way we saw signs for the German extermination camp at Treblinka and decided to have a look. Although the camp is long gone there are large numbers of rocks placed to commemorate the countries of origin and towns in Polands of the victims. It is estimated that 800 000 people died there. A large rock with the words ‘never again’ in several languages sits in the middle of the site.

Monument at Treblinka

We stopped briefly in Hajnowka where I took a few photos of a Fieldfare feeding its young before finally arriving in Bialowieza late afternoon. 

Fieldfare with young

We are stopping at the U Michala campsite which has only just re-opened and there is only us and a Finnish couple here at present. A calling Wryneck at the campsite was a nice welcome.
We decided to walk through the village to the Palace Park which is only about a kilometre, as we left the campsite a Lesser Spotted Eagle flew over carrying prey, so is presumably nesting fairly close by.

Lesser Spotted Eagle - adult

It’s Saturday so the park was very busy but I could hear Common Rosefinch singing by the lake and we saw several Hawfinch. We didn't walk far in to the park, I’ll have a look tomorrow morning when its quieter, but a thin piping call close to the main car park caught my attention and it turned out to be a superb male Collared Flycatcher, one of the speciality birds of Eastern Poland. I watched it for a while and it soon became apparent that it had a nest in a hole in a tree. I got some photos in poor light and will have another go tomorrow if the weather is ok.

Collared Flycatcher - male and probably first summer

It’s been hot again today with the temperature reaching 26 Centigrade this afternoon which is a welcome change from the first few days of our journey. The forecast is for more rain tomorrow and its started raining now so hoping for reasonable weather tomorrow.

Route to 6th May