Bulgaria days nine and ten

We spent the last couple of days in Shipka, where my brother lives where he runs the Balkan Ecology Project HERE. Kojak and I spent yesterday doing the Monastery first thing, then the birding road, then we went over to Sheynovo lake (and got interrupted by a huge storm) and spent the evening on the east plot sides. We recorded over 70 bird species in the area HERE and HERE with the highlight being a shocking Saker Falcon, presumably a bird from the reintroduction project in Bulgaria where five breeding territories have been established by released birds by a Partnership of the Green Balkans and the Stara Zagora Raptor Rehabilitation Centre. Other highlights included an adult and first-summer male Montagu's Harrier, Long-legged Buzzards, Honey Buzzard, Black-crowned Night Herons at the lake, Wryneck and good numbers of Ortolans and Isabelline Wheatears on the Steppe with Tawny Pipit, Quail and great to see the Sousliks doing well in this isolated fragment of Steppe habitat. 

Today Kojak and I headed up to the Shipka Pass Peak and found some mountain butterfly species such as Clouded Apollo, Woodland Ringlet, Weaver's Fritillary and Scarce and European Swallowtails and a couple of Narrow-bordered Bee Hawkmoths. 

In the afternoon we stopped briefly in some butterfly habitat near Kran and then headed over to Harmanli, our stop over for the night ahead of meeting Nikolay to target some butterfly specialities tomorrow morning.

Saker! (above)

Adult male (above) and first-summer male (below) Montagu's Harrier. I've been visiting this area for over 20 years now and it's absolutely great to see so little has changed in that time with the local valley and Steppe still supporting Montagu's Harriers and Steppe species and now with Sakers ! Seemingly there is no ecological emergency here? 

Male Ortolan

Male Cirl Bunting 

Night Heron

Small Blue 

Weaver's Fritillary

Narrow-bordered Bee Hawkmoth

Woodland Ringlet

Scarce Swallowtail 

Heliothis incarnata. We had the moth trap out in my mum's garden- it was pretty quiet but a few nice ones. 

Calophasia opalina

Zekelita antiqualis? 

Asovia maeoticaria

Coypu in Shipka

The good old Sousliks doing well out on the Steppe

Shipka- an absolutely stunning area

Views from the Shipka pass over the Valley of the Roses and the Balkans

Elder-flowered Orchid- we are trying to ignore the amazing botany round here as we are trying to target moths and butterflies but couldn't ignore these beauties