Aragon 2012: 2nd June

Our last full day in Spain, and what a day. We headed up to the top of the valley, first by bus and then walking.

Blue skies, beautiful landscape, Apollo butterflies on the wing, Alpine Marmots whistling at us inbetween mouthfuls of grass, superb flowers everywhere, a young Golden Eagle playing with the Choughs and 8 sightings of Lammergeier during the afternoon, including one adult who came through the valley at eye height. The thunder storm that crashed over us as we returned to the bus only added to the climatic atmosphere of the day. Superb. Thankyou to Lucia and Imanol for making our stay such a success.

Nachste halt, London.

Aragon 2012

This year's return to the Aragonese Pyrenees is going amazingly well. Superb weather (the key to all things, these days!), nice folks, and all going without a hitch: the main problem seems to be dragging people away from the flowers to actually get back to the hotel before dinner!

A superb Lammergeier came overhead yesterday, followed by around 100 Griffon Vultures and a couple of Egyptian Vultures; Citril Finches feeding on the roadside this morning; Spanish Chalkhill Blues on the wing at the far northern end of their range; and, after teasing us with an hour's wait, a superb male Wallcreeper flopping his way over the cliffs and rocks in front of us, allowing everyone to get good binocular views as he fed in the crevices and pulsated his red flashes across the rock face.

But for me, it's going to be hard to beat this rather splendid Fire Salamander, of the boldly striped local subspecies Salamandra salamndra fastuosa. "Salamanders can sometimes be found resting under logs like this one..." A brilliant beast.

Romania, 24th May 2012

So, our last full day in Romania.

After breakfast, we bid farewell to our fantastic hosts on the houseboat Kingfisher and took the speedboat back to Murighiol, stopping to pay our respects to a family of four young Long-eared Owls on the way.

Our journey across to Amara took us via a lunchtime stop in the Macin Mountains National Park. Just outside the not-overly-lovely town of Macin, these weren't the most immediately impressive range of hills: dry grassland, a large quarry or two. I wouldn't be entirely truthful if I said I had high hopes, but a nice place for a leg-stretch at least...

Two hours later, and I would have to say Macin Mountains is a brilliant place. A couple of soaring Long-legged Buzzards, the usual background noise of Bee-eaters and Corn Buntings, Red-backed and Lesser Grey Shrikes... a nice start. A pair of Woodlark, nice to see... "Raptor!", another Long-legged Buzzard.

For some reason, I raised my bins to the passing flock of starlings, and they all have pale bodies: "Rose-coloured Starlings!". The disappeared into the distant quarry, presumably breeding amongst the rubble piles. A nice surprise! Things are feeling more promising...

"Raptor!", yes, another Long-legged Buzzard. Then "Raptor!", and a circling Honey Buzzard. Nice to see a bit of variety after rather a glut of Marsh Harriers over the past week.

Next was a gorgeous male Honey Buzzard who started his wonderful butterfly wing-clapping display over our heads! Oh, and behind him, a little male Levant Sparrowhawk, all of ten minutes after I'd explained that our chances of seeing Levant Sparrowhawk were pretty much nil at this stage in the spring. Then a pair of Black Storks, together with another Honey Buzzard. Soon to be followed by a Common Buzzard, another Honey Buzzard and around 60 White Storks in a drifting flock, following the ridge.

While looking up at the ridge, a display-flighting wheatear zipped across my scope view. Alas, just a male Northern Wheatear. But let's have a quick check of the other rocks at the top of the ridge... a male Pied Wheatear! Very nice, thank you very much, quick, have a look through the scope... oh, he's gone. But there's another bird on the next rock along. Blue head, red belly: male Rock Thrush! A very unexpected bonus.

Balkan Wall Lizard skitting about, then a young Balkan Green Lizard and, on almost the next rock, a young Eastern Green Lizard, making easy comparison. Cardinal and Queen of Spain feeding on the salts along the stream edge, then a fresh Marbled Fritillary.

We can't stay out here all day, there's still a long way to go... back to the bus, sorry!

Down on the flat grassland, first one, then two Isabelline Wheatear on the rocks, where they should be. And a Tawny Pipit. A quick drink before we head off...

"Raptor!", a Long-legged Buzzard, carrying a big lizard. Turn, around, "Raptor!", another Long-legged Buzzard, this time carrying a struggling Souslik! And behind, a Black Kite, circling along the ridge. And above it, is that another buzzard? Surely too big... as if to wish us on our way, a young Eastern Imperial Eagle drifted in from the right, circled over head, then carried on along the ridge.

Yep, Macin Mountains, definitely a brilliant place...

Danube Delta 2012 #2

A second installment from the houseboat Kingfisher, slowly heading back upstream today. As I type I can hear Golden Oriole, Nightingale and Redstart singing, while a noisy group of Bee-eaters are burbling away on the riverbank..

From the top... a rather splendid pair of Dalmatian Pelicans, being a lot more confiding than pelicans tend to be out here; a Marsh Frog (the soundtrack to the wetlands of the Delta is made up of these!), amongst the lovely Cloverleaf Fern; Paddyfield Warbler singing in the reeds behind Sachalin Island, alongside (unphotographed) Moustached, Reed, Great Reed and Savi's Warblers; Steppe Runner, another local speciality which occurs on sandy soils in the Delta, and then around the northern Black Sea across into Asia.

Danube Delta 2012

A quick 'hello' from the Danube Delta, where we are currently moored up at Sfantu Georghe, just at the mouth of the channel next to the Black Sea coast. A beautiful sunny evening, with the smells of yet another spectacular meal wafting through the boat... life is hard, sometimes. : )

from the top: Dalmatian Pelican, one of a handful we've seen so far amongst the several hundred White Pelicans; Large Copper, a stunning little butterfly; Squacco Heron are a ridiculously common sight, but it's quite a challenge to get a photo of one looking semi-relaxed, as they are very quick to take flight as the boat draws alongside; Great Black-headed Gull, one of the key Delta specialities, we had around ten during the day as me moved from Uzlina downstream to where we are now.

Not a bad first few days.

100 Candles

Happy Birthday to The Wildlife Trusts.

One hundred years ago this evening, in the Natural History Museum in London, Charles Rothschild chaired the first meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, the Society that went on to become The Wildlife Trusts. A centenary worth celebrating.

Shenandoah Critters

and finally... a handful of randoms, including the co-stars of the show (together with the Cerulean Warbler, of course).

 Appalachian Cottontail. What do you mean, it looks just like a rabbit?... 

 White-tailed Deer, anything but shy... the 5000 strong herd in the National Park is, apparently, descended from just 13 individuals!

 Red Eft, a rather fantastic newt!

And, of course, Black Bears. We saw five in the end: one big male blundering up a slope away from us, a mother with two cubs (top: you can just see one peeping over the wall) feeding along the roadside before heading across the road and up the hill, and finally another male (bottom) as we left the park.