Bulgaria Spring 2023, days four and five Shipka

Spent a nice relatively chilled out couple of days at my brothers on the Balkan Ecology Project in Shipka in the foothills of the Balkan Mountains in the Valley of the Roses. Did some birding in the local area Ebird hotspot here. Live trip report HERE. 

Highlights have included plenty of Ortolan Buntings and seeing the local Isabelline Wheatears and Sousliks on the local Steppe are still doing well. Had a few new species for the hotspot including Firecrest at the Monastery, Short-toed Lark in the local farmland and Sedge Warbler along side the stream. 

Male Ortolan (above and below) 

Isabelline Wheatear

Red-rumped Swallow

Souslik

Dead Stone Martin (I think) on the Shipka Pass

Paul's Garden (above and below) 

Shipka Village

Shipka Monastery

Bulgaria 2018, Day 4

Our official herping trip is over now but still got another 3 days in Shipka at the Balkan Ecology Project with the family. Been checking out the local area following on from previous efforts out here see HERE and HERE.

As always an absolutely stunning area and still managed to add further species to the herping list: Fire Salamander, Wall Lizard, Dice Snake and Slow Worm (Eastern). Now had 20 herp species on this trip! 

Will need to blog separately about the butterflies, moths, botany and other wildlife (as will need to identify most of the photo specimens). Certainly a eco-abundance out here. 

Did the fields around plot 2 yesterday and went up the valley and stream east of the Monastery this morning. Added a few new species for out Shipka bird list HERE- including Red-footed Falcon (at least two males over the plot 2 fields), Marsh Tit (in the valley this morning) and also had Barred Warbler away from Koprinka Lake (one along the foothill path in plot 2 area). Also had Grey-headed Wagtail. 

A few pics: 

 View over the Balkans and Shipka Monastery from Plot 2 area 

 Black-headed Bunting- also at least 4 Ortolans around and Cirl and Corn Buntings

 Long-legged Buzzard 

Long-legged Buzzard and Red-footed Falcons 

Dice Snake 

BALKAN ECOLOGY PROJECT

Bulgaria, November 2018, Day 6, Shipka Birding

Spent the afternoon birding the fields east of Shipka village. Pristine agro-ecosystem with large numbers of Yellowhammers, Corn Buntings, Tree Sparrows, Chaffinch, Brambling and Skylarks with quartering Hen Harrier and Long-legged and Common Buzzards. Ebird list HERE 

Here's a few pics:

Syrian Woodpecker 

Marsh Tit (above  and Cirl Bunting, male (below) 

 Shipka Monastery 

 Buzludzha Monument - an old communist party conference centre 

Shipka 

Here's a local bird list I compiled in 2016- got a few birds to add to the list from the two trips here this year including Gull-billed Tern, Marsh Tit and Brambling. 

Shipka Area Bird List by on Scribd

Herping etc, Bulgaria day 2

Today (7th July) started off with a look round the monastery (an excellent bit of woodland) and then over to Hadzhidimitrovo lakes with Dylan and Anton for some herping, then haircuts, then shopping in Kazanlak (tried to get my broken moth trap fixed) and spent the evening doing some dusking for owls and a bit of night herping.

European Pond Turtle 

Smooth Snake (male) 

Pool Frog

LIST OF REPTILES IN BULGARIA

LIST OF AMPHIBIANS IN BULGARIA

Spotted Flycatcher at the monastery (Previously). 

Female Ficedula flycatcher- the lesser covert bar and the large white primary base patch suggests it's either a Semi-collared or a Collared Flycatcher 

This newly fledged juvenile Ficedula flycatcher is interesting- presumably the massive primary patch has something to do with the greater coverts still growing. 

Sunflowers- one of the main crops in the local agricultural area

Always stunned by the Shipka Monastery

Bulgaria days nine and ten: Shipka

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