Bulgaria Day Five

The plan today was for Holly to reburish the caravan while I took the boys out the way. I got up early and did the moth trap and a bit of birding from the plot HERE with highlights from the morning session and lunchtime session including a first-winter male Common Rosefinch, a singing Marsh Warbler, a male Little Bittern flushed from our pond!, a flyover male Montagu's Harrier, Pied Wheatear singing in the village, at least 6 Spotted Flycatchers (presumably migrants still coming through), Barred Warbler, Tree Pipit and a Black-headed Bunting came in for a drink to the pond too. 

In the morning I took the boys to Bolata Bay Beach and then after lunch we headed over to visit Pavel at Durankulak. Pavel had the nets up and we processed a Common Whitethroat with the boys. 

Sadly today was our last day on the wildlife plot and we are heading to reunite with Paul, my mum and Nephew in Burgas tomorrow. 

A whirlwind visit but achieved loads and saw some great garden ticks and moths.

First-winter male Common Rosefinch (above with Red-backed Shrike and below)

Spotted Flycatchers (above and below) 

Female Spanish Sparrow- surprisingly an easy identification with the dark underpart streaking and think dark bill

Lunar Double-stripe- another top of wish list moth. A lifer. I've been a bit dissappointed to have left the UK on the first major moth migration event of the year in record breaking heat wave conditions. Mike Bailey had a Druid on the Peninsula and there have been some mega moths around and enormous numbers of migrating insects. However it's been nice to have some compensation in catching several of the megas recorded in the UK here including this Lunar Double-stripe and Many-lines (below) and Bordered Straw (below that). 

Also some nice Eastern European species including Elicrinia trinotata and other nice local species below

Pease Blossom again- probably the same one re-caught

Evergestis frumentalis

The boys ringing a Common Whitethroat with Pavel

The caravan reburb (above and below). The plan was to paint the whole caravan but as we got two days behind we decided to get some inspiration from the local fields of poppies and painted a few poppies on the side to smarten it up. 

We managed to get everything working including the gas hob, fridge, lights, toilets, fan etc and it was all looking good to get the whole thing ready when we discovered a crack in the water boiler that was causing a flood everytime we tried to use the taps. Seems like water was left in the boiler or the winter which has expanded and cracked so despite overcoming the delay obstacles we still got beaten by Bulgaria- everytime! As always overcoming the next obstacle will have some unforeseen and unpredictable benefits. 

Bulgaria Day Four

I got up a 5am and went over to the plot for a couple of hours before the chaos kicked off and the family woke up. The moth trap was very lively with some really nice species and a bit of birding from the pond yielded 36 species of over 130 individuals HERE including all the usual wildlife plot specialities present including Nightjar, Little Owl, Turtle Doves, Nightingales, Golden Orioles, Cuckoo, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Hobby, Red-rumped Swallows, Spotted Flycatchers, Hawfinch, Corn Bunting and this evening there was additional Eastern Olivaceous Warbler. A nice bit of 'garden' birding! 

The rest of the day was spent in Varna buying the paint, battery and other bits for the caravan refurbish and in the afternoon we took the kids to Varna Zoo and a local fun fair. Had Middle Spotted Woodpecker in the park.

Pease Blossom (above and below)- of all the European moths this was one that I wanted to see most. Absolute stunning and shocked me when I saw it on the side of the trap. Absolute stunner. Looks like a bit of a Black Sea speciality HERE. 

Passenger- a really nice fresh one. Had two of these. Had about 70 species of well over a thousand moths in the trap although 1000+ of those were Diamond-backs which kept flying out like smoke from the trap as I was processing it. Other observations HERE and the project moth list is now on a provisional 434 species HERE. 

Turtle Dove coming down to drink at the Pond this evening

Middle Spotted Woodpecker with young at Varna park 

Isaac filling up the pond (above) and job done (below) 

The caravan pre-refurb. The plan tomorrow is to smarten this up a bit. Will see what happens- so far we are two days behind schedule.

When in Rome. Classic Bulgaria with smoking by people behind the bars and shops and also people who should know better especially near the kids! What with the abundant bird life and wildlife and poeple smoking everywhere- it really is like time travel coming out here. 

Bulgaria days one to three

We arrived at our holiday wildlife plot/caravan today after arriving at Sofia on Saturday. We dropped my mum off with my brother Paul, who lives in Bulgaria, and then headed to Burgas where we arrived in the early evening.

Yesterday we spent all day in Burgas, staying at Diamond Beach apartments and we took the kids to Burgas Zoo which was surprisingly not at all like an Eastern European zoo but with large enclosures and wildlife habitats. We then spent the afternoon at Burgas park.

This morning we set off early to Varna in order to buy the paint we need to paint the caravan. However it was a bank holiday today also in Bulgaria and the boat supplies shops were closed. This was a bit of a fatal flaw in our plan for this week as the idea was to get the caravan fully functional and also painted. 

We therefore headed off to Kaman Bryag and arrived around lunch time and spent the afternoon on the plot also discovering that the caravan battery had leaked acid and that the water tank was mouldy further scuppering our plans. 

So the revised plan for tomorrow now is to try and get a new battery, repair the electrics and attempt to get the caravan fully functioning.

Fortunately aall the moth trapping gear is working well and it's on now so looking forward to check what's in there tomorrow morning. Been a few casual bird highlights including Honey Buzzard, Long-legged Buzzard and White Pelicans over the zoo and today there was a good selection of birds at the plot including a singing Eastern Bonelli's Warbler ? (See below) which is a local patch first.    

Male Honey Buzzard

White Pelicans

The family arriving at the wildlife plot 

Just noticed there are some high pitched calls at the beginning of the song that sound more like Wood Warbler . Maybe just a plastic song of Wood Warbler ? Will look into more when I get a breather ! 

Two year Anniversary at Little Oak Lodge

Pinning down the exact two year anniversary date for when we moved in here is not easy as in 2024 we completed the purchase on 18th May HERE, then let the builders in to do the refurb for a couple of weeks, then we half moved in for two weeks HERE before going to Australia for six weeks to let Jimmy and the builders finish the work and then finally moved in during late July HERE while work was still on going. But basically it's around two years ago since we moved in here. 

Spent the last couple of days in London working and today sorting out the garden and getting ready to travel to Bulgaria tomorrow.

The moth trap has been more lively in the warmer evening. Now on 150 for the year. 

Typically we are leaving just as the first heat wave of the year begins so sadly going to miss a wave of moth and insect activity and its going to be more challenging to keep everything healthy while we are away but luckily enlisted some help from Matt and Kath. 

The back garden meadow still needs more colour! Hopefully things will be flowering more when we get back. The same view 2 years ago HERE

The raised beds going good today. A real improvement on the original HERE. I did a one year blog post before and after last year HERE now showing the developemnt of the fruit beds and hedges. 

Slowly getting there with the front garden aesthetic

The wild ditch is one of our most productive bits of micro-habitat. Latest pan-species obs HERE

We've made good progress over the last couple of years with some nice little micro-habitats created and feeling really wild now with lots buzzing round, we recorded well over 1000 species here so all ready to now be welcoming guests at the caravan airbnb. Bookings HERE. 

Plenty of NFYs in the last couple of nights including Clancy's Rustic (above- will never be able to see these the same way again after meeting and travelling with Sean Clancy recently, who this moth was named after). Other NFYs include Yellow Belle (below), Black-headed Conch, European Corn Borer, Yellow-faced Bell, Plum Tortrix, Straw Dot, Grey Pug, Middle-barred Minor, Brown House Moth and Dark Arches

In the high pressure system there have been a few scarcities and rarites regionally. I tried my luck this morning despite being busy and checked out Ferry and Norton for a couple of hours. The couple of Little Gulls still present at Norton were the highlight and this summer plumage Cattle Egret (above) was on Ferry, Checklist HERE 

Summer Storm Petrel

Sometimes a plan comes together. I got to the Bill this morning at 530 following a day and a night of F6-7 southerly/southwesterly winds in the hope of Manx Shearwaters, a late Pomarine Skua or a Storm Petrel. At 0605 I picked up a bird fluttering about 1ft above the waves, it was facing the wind and making very slow forward progress towards the west. I had already seen a few Barn Swallows already fighting agaisnt the wind so this stood out immediately with a different jizz. Suddenly the wind caught it and it flew back a few meters and then resumed progress fluttering close to the waves in a typical small petrel fashion. I wanted to get the rump on it as I was aware that distant Nightjars can be confused for petrels. It was within the mile basket line and just before the breaking water so must have been nearly a mile out! I kept watching it and sometimes it would gain a foot or more height and then silohuette agaisnt the white breaking water so I tried to get a record shot but had no way of seeing it in the view finder so tried to locate a nearby gull or Gannet and then try and find that, shoot and hope for the best. By a miracle out of about 20 shots I got something (below) but not much use. I kept on it because I wanted to see the white rump or even something on the underwing but it just looked dark and didn't want to make a mistake - it was either a closer petrel or a further away Nightjar but the fluttering flight, regular backward drift flights in the wind and resumed progress didn't look like Nightjar at all and on one occasion I lost it for a while and it looked like it went down on the sea. After a while on more than one occasion another bird got close to it, a Herring Gull, a Sandwich Tern and a Gannet and each time the bird really looked tiny in comparison so I decided to put the news out as Petrel sp- presumed Storm Petrel. 

Sadly I lost it after that but more than happy it was a small petrel and the default this time of year in these waters is European Storm Petrel. I didn't see any white on it, just couldn't see the rump but following discussion with Andrew and Sam that it quite often the case with birds off the Bill, with distant small birds looking south towards the morning sun, although it was overcast this morning. There's also been a influx of them in the west and south west today. So a local patch tick- now on 213 for the Peninsula and 175 for the year. 

Other than that there were a few Kittiwakes, 4 Great Northern Divers and a couple of Fulmar HERE. I tried again in the afternoon but not much else HERE.

On the way back to the Bill in the afternoon a Spotted Flycatcher flew along the lane in front of me. It had come out of Andrew's hedge and landed in an Oak tree further down the lane so I called Andrew and luckily we found it back in the original tree in Andrew's hedge- a garden tick for him. As I drove past the Ferry I had a quick check- one of the pairs of Avocets had chicks, the first this year as far as I know. 

It was a work day today with Matt at the Lodge so the rest of the day was spent doing the garden. 

European Storm Petrel - the dark shape left of image with Herrring Gull (right) for comparison. No awards for this pic! If you click on the image first and then zoom into the shape it appears you can make out a wing and body shape. The first local spring record since 2020 (pers Ian). 

First-summer Kittiwakes

Avocet with chicks on Ferry

Spotted Flycather at Andrew's House, photo by Andrew House

A few bits in the moth trap last night in the much milder evenings with migrants including a few Silver-Y and Diamond-backs. Moth of the night was this Oak Gall Moth, Pammene argyrana which was on the side of my van. A lifer. 

The Sweetcorn is struggling but the back meadow is coming along- remowed the paths in today (above and below) 

The Water Mint in the pond is growing well and the Hemlock Water Dropwort is now flowering with loads of insects feeding on the flowers. With a concerted effort to record more pan-species this year I'm collecting bi-catch from the moth trap and also got the survey mats down and collecting insects from there and also flower heads. The lodge list is climbing fast with 237 species (not including moths,butterflies,birds or mammals which are recorded seperately) now HERE. 

Summer storm

There was a F6 southerly/southwesterly today with frontal rain in the morning and then showers in the afternoon. I decided to let it brew for a while so got some things done in the morning and started preparing for our Bulgaria trip and then went out for a bit of seawatching in the afternoon from Hillfield Road. Checklist HERE with highlights including 2 Manx Shearwaters flying west close in, a couple of summer plumage Guillemots close in, a dark phase Arctic Skua on the prowl, 12 Sanderling east and nice feeding flock of gulls and terns.

The winds continue until tomorrow, reducing a bit but hopefully a few more hours of this overnight might stir things up a bit more. A Deserta's-type Petrel went east past Portland this morning so that is out there somewhere. I'd be made up with a Storm Petrel or a few more Manx Shearwater- the two main targets in an early summer storm round here. Will give it another go in the morning. 

I put the actinic moth trap out last night as despite the heavy rain the wind was from quite a deep south and was hoping for some migrants. Indeed I had 4 Silver-Y and a White-point, a couple of Turnips, a Portland Ribbon Wave and a  Dewick's Plusia which may also have been migrants. Also had a Dark-barred Twist, Syndemis musculana which was new for year. Now on 135 for the year. The Goosefoot Groundling HERE dissected and identified by Mike Bailey has been confirmed by Stephen Palmer and accepted by the CMR Colin Pratt so now on 645 for the garden. 

Gannets

Guillemot- rarely see them well from the Bill.

Dark-barred Twist- NFY

Silver-Y (above) and Dewick's Plusia (below)

Roseate Tern plot thickens

Ads Bowley went to see the Roseate Terns at Norton this morning only to find there were now five birds there. By the sounds of it that could be a Sussex record and certainly a local record. 

After having a look at the Roseates (I could only see three at one time) I decided to venture out to the tip of Pagham spit as never been there before and also couldn't be bothered to drive round to have a look at the roosting waders. Luckily the roosting waders came to me and landed on the spit. Checklist HERE with highlights including the Temminck's Stint still on Ferry, the Roseate Terns, a 2 cy Little Gull, 2 Kittiwakes, a Firecrest singing at Norton car park and still a nice roost of waders including 200 Dunlin, 120 Ringed Plover and 12 Sanderling. Also Greenshank in Ferry Channel and 2 LRP  and a Common Sand on Ferry.

Completely unrelated to this post, Stephen Culley sent me over the pics of the Amur Falcon we had in Oman which I've now added to this blog HERE. Cracking shots of it. 

Three Roseate Terns (all photos above) with Sandwich Terns, Common Tern and Little Tern

Common, Sandwich and Little Tern. The Tern action at Norton at the moment is pretty spectacular. At least 300 Sandwich, 12 Common, 70 Littles and the Roseates. 

First-summer Kittiwake (top right)

2 calender-year Little Gull (towards top left)

Temminck's Stint

Sleeping Sanderling

Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Sanderling

Greenshank- looks like it has moulted straight into winter plumage. Maybe this bird HERE photographed in same place a few days ago moulted from a first-winter to an adult winter but definitely not this bird HERE from the same area in late April which an adult summer 

The only NFY in the moth trap was Cyclamen Tortrix

Eyed Hawkmoth