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Friday, October 31, 2014

Palanger, Lithuania

This was my third trip to Lithuania, and I like the country very much. My previous stays have been in the capital Vilnius.  My day started early to catch a coach to Luton airport, and then flew to Kaunas and a taxi awaited me at the airport to take me to my hotel in the centre of Kaunas. After a good night’s sleep and a hearty continental breakfast I waited outside my hotel for my friend. I had a interesting conversation with a Ukrainian man who I just managed to gather where he was from and he didn’t like Russia. He shook my hand several times. I was picked up and driven to Palanga, a seaside resort some 230 km from Kaunas.

The day was overcast with occasional light rain but it was quite mild, and walking along the shore line was pleasant, looking out onto the Baltic Sea. There were various species of gull flying about. We saw some pintail in flight and eiders out at sea, also spotted a white tailed eagle some distance out at sea. In the wooded area we saw typical woodland birds, including short toed and common treecreeper, goldcrest, nuthatch, jay, great spotted woodpeckers, as well as jackdaws, ravens, hooded crows and rooks. The highlight was a brambling, my first of the year. There were many tit flocks, six species noted but no crested tits were spotted.

Our evening was spent in Palanger, and although it was quiet there, in mid October it is clear that this is a popular seaside resort in the summer months. We were informed that Midge Ure was performing in Palanga the following night. We didn’t ask if there was any tickets for sale. I had decided that I would try only Lithuanian dishes in my stay there, and almost all dishes seem to include potatoes, nice, but also very filling.
Wonderful autumn colours
We started early after a good night’s sleep at our excellent hotel, taking a packed breakfast with us. The clouds had cleared and it was a very different day. The car windscreen was caked in thick ice. After about an hour’s drive we walked along the shore line and the sea was as calm as I have seen it. There were various gulls and cormorants flying. There were other birds further out, and there was a large migration movement. We saw six species of raptors including buzzard, merlin and goshawk. A “V” of whooper swan flew close by to us. It was a fantastic morning and we picked up many small amber stones. Close to the holiday homes there were hawfinch, siskin and bullfinch in the trees and always a treat, black redstarts. We also saw a lesser spotted woodpecker.
Great black backed gull
Arriving back at Palanger we had time to go to the local park, which I have to say is one of the best maintained parks I have seen. It was large with many varieties of trees and flora. A large museum was in the centre of the park, with gardens in excellent condition. In the tall trees the usual woodland birds, but we did pick out a middle spotted woodpecker.
Interesting watching this Jay, making a hole in the bin bag and stealing the bread
After another Lithuanian dish at out hotel, of pancakes that once again proved to be too filling for me to finish, and no hint that Ultravox’s former lead singer was in town. We had an early night for another early start on Sunday, taking a packed breakfast we set off for our highlight of the short trip, to Ventes Rajas. It is a ringing station further along the coast. The day weather wise was very different with the cloud cover back. It was quite windy at the station and frequent showers. We met a bird ringer who gave us a short demonstration of a female great tit being ringed after being caught in the nets. She was a biology teacher from Vilnius, and she had taken part in the counting birds day the day before. She told us shortly before we had arrived she had ringed a Northern hawk owl and showed us a picture on her phone. We didn’t stay too long because it was very windy but we did see some goldeneye and red breasted mergansers in flight. Our bird ringing friend advised us to call at some fisheries near to Kintai, more inland and less windy. We were grateful to her because we saw some magnificent birds near to the fisheries, including six white tailed eagles. There were over 100 whooper swans dropping in and flying off. We saw some waders in the mud including golden plover, spotted redshanks, dunlin, wood sandpipers and lapwing. Also some teal and smew in flight. The highlight was seeing the magnificent eagles, both in flight and perched on rocks in the lake. They looked huge just sitting, waiting for their next meal.

We then started our return to Kaunas and stopped off in a wooded area and although it was quiet we managed to pick up crested tits in amongst the other six species of tit. Almost 70 species seen and very little in the way of wildfowl, and they are expected to arrive when the weather gets colder.

On the way to the airport we stopped off at a restaurant and I had an unusual Lithuanian dish; potato sausages, that I couldn’t finish off. I was beginning to think I can’t eat as much as I used to. I usually never leave any food. The flight back home took longer because of a tail wind, about three hours and landed at midnight at Luton. I had earlier booked a hotel at the airport and set off the next morning by coach to arrive back in Liverpool in the afternoon. For me Lithuania is a fantastic country, and although it doesn’t attract as many birders as Estonia does, I am sure it won’t be long before it does.


Monday, October 6, 2014

West and east of Riga

My day started early on Saturday when I boarded a coach in Liverpool for a 10.30 am flight from Manchester. The flight was over 2 hours and we were packed in like sardines, with little leg room. It was an uncomfortable journey, but I did my best to make the time pass quickly, by reading, sudoku and sleeping.

Arriving in Riga, I located the bus stop and bought my bus ticket. I am amazed that a 40 minute journey was as cheap as 60 cents, a mere 50p. Another bus journey found me at my hotel, but no time for bird watching. All I managed to see were house and tree sparrows and hooded crows.
My breakfast at the hotel was good, but only started at 8.00 am so I did not have a great deal of time to digest my food, because my train was at 9.20 from Riga Central station, which included a bus journey. My destination was Kemeri National Park, taking about 1 hour. A mere 4 euros for a return trip, the downside being the train stopped frequently and was packed. The weather was warm and a moderate breeze. It is doubtful that anyone will ever get away with paying the correct fare on the trains in Latvia because the ticket inspectors are there checking your ticket within seconds of the journey starting. They checked and stamped my ticket three times for one journey.

I found my way from Kemeri railway station to the National park, via the Information centre. Along the way I came across a flock of fieldfare, jays, nuthatches, blue and great tits, robin and chaffinch. My first destination was Lake Sloka, a huge inland lake, but I managed to lose my way in the forest, assuming I took a wrong turn somewhere. In the breeze it wasn’t easy to hear the bird calls, but did see a number of crested, willow, marsh tits. When I did locate the lake  I had to walk past a guard dog, who would not let me pass without letting anyone who was within a radius of 100 metres that I was about. I saw large numbers of diving ducks, including pochard, tufted, goldeneye and scaup. Also mallards, gadwall and widgeon. There were a number of coots and mute swans, with some great white egrets in the distance, also the odd great crested grebe.
Chiffchaff
Finding my way back I spotted a great spotted woodpecker, the first I had seen or heard. I saw a viper that luckily kept its distance from me. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t see larger numbers of birds, but seeing the weather forecast for the next day I thought I would try Kemeri again. I was glad I did, because I saw quite a few different species, but I did try a different route to get to Lake Sloka, although I couldn’t avoid barking Buster. On the “spring route” I saw a black woodpecker and was pleased to take a photo. It was moving about but luckily stayed long enough for me to get a snap. I saw a number of great spotted woodpeckers, and a lesser spotted woodpecker. A flock of long tailed tits joining other tits. I frequently saw and heard marsh and willow tits, noticing the willow tits have paler cheeks that those in UK. The long tailed tits having white heads. I found my way to the tower hide at the lake, and saw a black woodpecker in flight. On the lake I saw much of what I saw the day before, but there seemed to be more of them. Among the many mute swans was a whooper.
Black woodpecker
I made my way back to the railway station and came across some black redstarts by an old derelict factory, also the odd white wagtail. Somewhere on the way back I took a wrong turn again and only made the train with a minute to spare. Giving me just another minute to find my train ticket for snarling Sally.

My last day in Riga took me to Sigulda, in the opposite direction to Kemeri. My flight wasn’t until 10.50 pm so I had the full day. I was grateful the hotel allowed me to leave my luggage in the hotel until the evening to save carrying it around. Sigulda is a pleasant tourist town about 53 km east of Riga. Snarling Sally’s twin sister was on board and checked my ticket immediately. I arrived in Sigulda just before midday which gave me about four hours. In the region is Gauja national park, with the river Gauja running through. The scenery is spectacular. I made my way down 430 steps to the bottom of the valley. I saw a short toed treecreeper, along with nuthatches and great spotted woodpeckers. A few ravens were flying above and a number of jays. Here I noticed the colour of the leaves, a reminder autumn was upon us.
Gauja river
I saw about 50 species, not as much as previous trips, but still enjoyable and Kemeri National Park will be well worth exploring in the spring. I was without my telescope on this trip and would probably have seen more on Lake Sloka.

I made it back to Riga International Airport, and after a long wait at the terminal and for my coach at Manchester. I arrived home at 2 am, thinking about where I would be going next.....

Saturday, June 28, 2014

East Poland Trip

A birding trip to the most easterly point of Poland may not appeal to everyone but it was for me the best by a country mile. I didn’t have the best of starts to the holiday, having an early flight from Heathrow meant a hotel near to terminal 1 the night before. I set my alarm for 3 am, took a shower, and then the shower tap got stuck and wouldn’t turn off. In trying to turn it off I managed to turn the temperature to its highest, which also stuck. Panicking I quickly dressed and with luggage in tow I rushed down to the desk to check out of my hotel, sweating like an Olympic 100m runner on the hottest day of summer. I told them of the running shower, also afraid that the steam might set off the alarm. I couldn’t hang around to find out the outcome.
I arrived at the airport LOT Polish Airlines check in desk and met up with my fellow holidayers. We arrived in Warsaw to heavy rain, and thick black clouds. The mini bus was picked up from a Polish company called Panek, which led to the inevitable “don’t panic Captain Mainwearing” quotes. and we set off on our journey, about 220 km east. We stopped about half way for lunch, and picked up some nice birds in the wooded area by the cafĂ©, including a great spotted woodpecker feeding in a rubbish bin. Not somewhere you would normally find one. We set off again and later through a hail storm to end all hail storms. We arrived at our hotel in Bialowieza and it looked (and was) fabulous. We had an evening meal and then had a walk in the local park to check out the surroundings and immediately some interesting birds, spotted flycatchers, black redstarts, icterine warblers, thrush nightingales and great reed warblers. In the trees were wryneck and great spotted woodpeckers and a honey buzzard flying right above the car park. There were nesting starlings in the trees by the hotel. There was very little on the lake in the park, but we saw white storks there, the first of many during our weeks stay in Poland. One mistake I made was forgetting to put on my insect repellent and all the midges and mosquitos must have been seen me coming as they all came for me. There must be something about my blood they like.
Great Reed warbler

After a good night’s sleep, forgetting all about hot showers and taps that don’t work, some of us had a pre-breakfast walk and we walked along an old railway line for an hour or so. Here we saw river, barred, icterine, great reed and sedge warblers. We saw golden orioles, thrush nightingales and snipe making their delightful drumming noise.
After a taking a shower, which worked, we had a continental breakfast and packed a lunch from the leftovers, we set off in the mini bus. Caked in insect repellent I still managed to get some more bites that I must have missed rubbing on my skin. We set off to the Belarus border, passing the border guards with their rifles. We drove along a path that was only a few feet from the border. We saw two turtle doves fly off from Belarus into Poland. Amongst many stops in various habitats we came across black storks, lesser spotted eagles, middle spotted and white backed woodpeckers. Marsh, savi’s, icterine, sedge, great reed, garden, willow and river warblers, as well as the common chiffchaff, whitethroat, lesser whitethroat and blackcap, it was certainly a warbling day. We saw a wonderful male rosefinch, that grabbed everyone’s attention immediately. Also hawfinch, serin and red backed and great grey shrikes.

Our evening visit was to see great snipe, but we were warned about insect repellent and wellingtons. I wore my special shirt and another dose of repellent we stood in standing water in the swamp at dusk for over an hour for the great snipe to appear. When we thought all was lost we saw them further to the right than we were looking. Only brief views in the fading light but heard the “Symphony of icicles”. Walking back we heard and saw a woodcock fly in the almost night sky. Arriving back at the bus we were impersonating Christopher Walkden dancing to Fatboy Slim. Me, of course, about three times as bad as the rest. Somehow I managed to get some sleep and up early for the pre-breakfast walk.
The next day was easily the best birding day I have ever experienced because we were going into the protected area in the primeval forest. We weren’t allowed in without a permit or a guide. We were taken in by Arek who has been a forester all his working life and he is an expert. What he doesn’t know about these forests is not worth knowing. It was quite an experience walking through the forest, along the paths that had been constructed by the Russians in the 18th century. I would have liked to have stopped a few times to take everything in but we were hurried through because Arek was on quite a tight schedule and we had quite a distance to walk to come across a nesting black woodpecker. Also the delightfully tuneful red breasted flycatcher, although when we managed to see it, there was no red breast. For me this bird was the star of all the 150 species we came across, 16 of which were lifers. Later he took us to other sites, although not in the protected areas. We came across grey headed woodpeckers, three toed woodpeckers and pygmy owls. The sighting of the three toed woodpecker was quite an achievement for me as I have now seen all 10 European woodpeckers. 
Still severely itching all over, I managed to get a good night’s sleep and make the pre breakfast walk. Seeing all the usual suspects in the park, it was wonderful hearing icterine warbler sing with their “squeaky toy” sound. We saw a river warbler sat up on a bush singing away. Birds not always seen were just a few feet away in full view.
After breakfast we set off. We had seen most of the target birds of the first leg of the holiday, but we still had an excellent day, with whooper swans seen, goldeneye, great crested grebes, nesting green sandpipers and many middle spotted woodpeckers, the highlights. Two quite exceptional mammals we encountered were pine marten and bison. Not too many people can say they have them those two animals on the same day. The pine marten was quite by chance and to see the way it made its way through the high canopies was incredible. It caused havoc with the birds with them all going mad. We all stood there watching, then the marten made its way down the tree at lightning speed and briefly stopped to look at us and then made its way off into the forest. The three bison we saw were in the distance then started to make their way toward us, so we had good views. One of the group wandered off into a field and saw the head and neck of a corncrake, but he was the only one. We heard many.
We had early start the next day, but a couple still managed to get a pre breakfast walk in, we were off to the Biebrza marshes with quite a few stops on the way. The habitats were quite different and our first target bird was heard and later seen, one of Europe’s rarest songbirds, the aquatic warbler. It was quite a find as we had been (unreliably) informed by a group of birders from Suffolk we had seen earlier, that there weren’t any there. Also seen here was a fast flying hobby and cranes flying in the distance, what a marvellous sound they have. We also came across common, black and whiskered terns, great white egrets, white tailed eagles, wood larks, hoopoes and blue headed yellow wagtails. In some of the wooded areas we saw crested tits and collared flycatchers. We also saw the delightful penduline tit gathering nesting material and we spotted the nest nearing completion.
Our new hotel was in Dobarz, and the setting was impressive, we sorted out our rooms and then quickly for an evening meal. There was no time for any rest during the day.
White Stork

I don’t know what it was about showers on this holiday, but I had a further mishap. I had noticed there was no shower gels in the room, so I took the soap dispenser into the shower cubicle. It was quite a posh one, pottery and quite heavy. I dropped the thing and it smashed and cut my foot. I didn’t have any soap left either. The bathroom was now beginning to resemble a scene from the film Physco. It was about 4.30 in the morning and was beginning to wish I hadn’t agreed to go on the pre breakfast walk, but make it I did and quickly forgot of my earlier woes when the birds were singing. Spotted flycatchers, house sparrows, black redstarts and swallows were close to our rooms. Walking along the road near the hotel we saw an ortolan bunting, golden oriole, wood larks, icterine warblers, hawfinch and bullfinch, we could hear distant cranes and bitterns booming, and cuckoos, both near and far. Yellowhammers were everywhere and whinchat. The loud song of the thrush nightingale made you stop and try to get a glimpse.
After a breakfast that included pancakes we set off for a tour of the marshes, with a packed lunch, made up by the hotel staff. We found a number of tower hides and had some delights. My 2nd favourite bird of the tour was the white winged black tern. I have seen them before but when they fly past just a few feet away their wonderful plumage is revealed. They were plentiful as well as black terns and common terns. There were some garganey being flushed by marsh harriers and montague harriers. We had a close view of a pair of Montys. We saw black and white storks flying high, the black stork is so graceful. More waders in the marshes too with lapwing, snipe, breeding black tailed godwits and redshank. We were able to see Elk in the marshes and in one scene, a white tailed eagle landed close to the moose. Photographic opportunities were taken.
Elk and White tailed eagle

We had an excellent meal at the hotel, and the draught beer was back on thankfully after having run dry the night before.
The next morning started early as ever, but we tried a tour of a swampy area and walked through a wooded area to get there. There was so much to see, and we had to be selective in what we stopped for. Thrush nightingale and golden orioles are certainly birds worth stopping for as well as hawfinch. We found the swampy area and saw that some Germans had beat us to it. We saw immediately that they were recording bird song so we just waved our greetings. We saw a raised platform that was originally built to view great snipe, but they are no longer there. There were plenty of common snipe though displaying. We saw cuckoos, yellowhammer, whinchat, whitethroat and sedge warblers. We also saw yet another warbler, grasshopper warbler, our first view of the week. A majestic goshawk also flew close by.
After another nice breakfast we set off for our last full day and we actually saw over 90 species in the day. We visited some private fish ponds, where we needed a permit to enter. Some great birds here included temminck’s stint, wood sandpiper, little ringed plover, ruff, black tailed godwits, redshank, whooper swan, little grebe and common tern. Here surprisingly we had our first view of linnet. Later we saw ruddy turnstone and dunlin, as well as five species of tern, with about half a dozen little tern which surprised all. We tried a site that may have had the Syrian woodpecker but none were spotted. From a tower hide we had close views of otters, which had everyone rushing to the viewing spot, fantastic animals.
Black tailed godwit

We tried a sand quarry and saw about 10 bee eaters nesting, with sand martins close by. Here we had a brief view of a tawny pipit and a quail was heard but not seen. Whinchats and great grey shrikes were seen perched too. It was approaching 30 degrees centigrade which had me caked in sun screen and insect repellent. My dilemma was what to put on first. There was an easy answer, insect repellent after the sun screen. After an exhausting day there were not many that had a late night due to our early breakfast at 6.15 am. Well that was the plan because there breakdown in communication because the Polish waitresses thought it was 6.50. Two of us also were up at dawn breaking to see our last birds. Not much time but we still managed over 30 species.
It had been a fantastic week in Poland, my fifth visit to this wonderful country, with a further three visits planned later this year and early next year to Wroclaw, Warsaw and Szczecin. I really should start to learn the language.
We made it back to Frederick Chopin airport at Warsaw, then to Heathrow, where the lower temperature and dark rain clouds reminded us we were back in England.