12 April After an evening flight to
Varna where we were picked up from the airport by our guide Petar
Iankov.
We woke up to sunny weather and were soon driving to an area of
rocky terrain at Beloslav, only one Northern Wheatear had arrived
but a Tawny Pipit perched on a small bush and sang giving very good
views. The local Long-legged Buzzard was perched but at a much
greater distance .There was a small passage of raptors with a few
buzzards, a Lesser-spotted Eagle, Sparrow-hawk and Booted Eagle.
Then across a small ferry to Yatata which is a “protected” area
of wet land with fishermen and cars parked close to the waters edge,
however there were 7 species of ducks , a Marsh Harrier and a
Squacco Heron. We then stopped to over look the sea and eat our
lunch with some woodland birds but the highlight was the sight of
several flocks of Black-necked Grebes totalling more than 300 mostly
in breeding plumage. The next stop was in Albena an upmarket holiday
village but in April very few holidaymakers but this, plus the lack
of foliage, made seeing Lesser and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers
easier; at one point both on the same small branch. In the wooded
area we found Semi-collared Fly-catchers and Short-toed
Tree-creeper.
We then drove to our hotel at Kavarna stopping to carefully check
an Eagle Owl site with one visible, found needless to say by Petar. |
