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