The Lincolnshire Bird Club

The LBC Forum. To register on this forum YOU must NOW be a member of the LBC - see Membership Page for details.
To join the LBC Forum you must be a Member of the Lincolnshire Bird Club - Click here for Membership Information
If you would like to post an item, but ARE NOT a forum member please submit information using the Record Form: if suitable the information will be posted on the LBC Forum on your behalf.

It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:02 pm

LBC Homepage - The Photo Album - Submit a Record (for Non-members)/ or Request - LBC Forum Information and Access Help - Forum Information


All times are UTC [ DST ]




Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 1 post ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Slovenia August 2014
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:15 pm 
Offline
Lincs Bird Club Member
Lincs Bird Club Member

Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:15 am
Posts: 1139
Location: Marton
NORTHWEST SLOVENIA 23rd-30th AUGUST 2014
Brian Hedley
A week long family package holiday based in the beautiful ski resort of Kranjska Gora set at 810m within the stunning Julian Alps. Flew into Ljubljana airport which is a one hour drive from our hotel. We didn’t hire a car but used the very reasonable local buses a few times (including to Lake Bled on the 29th August) and also had an organised coach trip to the famous Postojna caves on the 28th. The 1:30,000 tourist (walking) map of the Kranjska Gora area was particularly useful (bought in hotel for 6.5 euros). Previous trip reports by John Cantelo (1998), Bob Swann (2003) and Ben Miller (2008) were used for reference although we didn’t use any of the ski-lifts as recommended in the reports.

A total of 70 bird species were noted during the week including three new to me. Very nice to see black redstarts so abundant with a few in song during the visit. A few notes on particular sites and birds follow:

Ratece area. Reached by bus west from Kranjska Gora. Followed partly steep footpath north to the joint Slovenia/Austria/Italy border (at 1500m). Four honey-buzzards were noted within a kettle of at least 50 common buzzards over the ridge here. Along a cycle route back down through the forest a three-toed woodpecker responded almost immediately to taped calls but didn’t show itself unfortunately. Nutcracker was also noted in this area.

Lake Jasna area. About a 15min walk south alongside road (or river if path open) south from Kranjska Gora. This turned out to be regular pre-breakfast walking area and proved to be fairly good for migrants. A resident flock of mallards (and a wood duck) were occasionally joined by teal. Three wader species were noted: singles of common snipe and little stint plus up to 5 common sandpipers. Other species here were up to 5 alpine swifts, regular dipper, pied flycatcher, crested tit, peregrine, raven and common crossbill.

Virsic Pass (1600m). Reached by bus south from Kranjska Gora and involving 25 hairpin bends! Unfortunately it was very misty for most of the time at this height which limited birding but an alpine accentor was close to the roadside car park. Alpine marmots are also known to be present here. A flock of over 50 common crossbills were also noted here plus the only dunnock and wren of the trip.

Lake Bled. A day-long visit using bus. Only a few waterbirds were noted (mallard, coot, great crested grebe, goosander and mute swan) and also the only gull of the trip (a single black-headed). Other birds noted whilst walking circuit of lake included peregrine, pied flycatcher, spotted flycatcher and nuthatch.

Zelenci Nature Reserve. A 40 minute walk west from Kranjska Gora along cycleway (old railway). The route to this reserve was better for birds than the reserve itself which was very quiet apart from several hundred feeding swallows and house martins. Red-backed shrike, pied flycatcher, lesser whitethroat and olivaceous warbler were noted alongside the cycleway.

East of Kranjska Gora. Walks alongside the river and on a cycleway produced nutcracker, red-backed shrike, dipper, whinchat, yellowhammer, water pipit and also a golden eagle (over the ridge to the north).

SPECIES LIST (plus number of days seen) My table lines disappeared!
Species 23/08 24/08 25/08 26/08 27/08 28/08 29/08 30/08
Mute swan X
Wood duck X X X X
Mallard X X X X X X X
Teal X X X
Goosander X X
Great crested grebe X
Grey heron X X X
Honey-buzzard X
Golden eagle X
Sparrowhawk X X X
Common buzzard X X X X X X X X
Common kestrel X X X X X X
Hobby X X
Peregrine X X X
Moorhen X
Coot X
Common sandpiper X X
Little stint X
Common snipe X
Black-headed gull X
Rock/feral pigeon X X X X
Woodpigeon X X X
Alpine swift X
Common swift X
Great spotted woodpecker X X
Three-toed woodpecker H
Green woodpecker H
Red-backed shrike X X X
Eurasian Jay X X X X X X X
Magpie X
Nutcracker X X X X
Hooded crow X X X X X X X X
Raven X X X X
Barn swallow X X X X X X X X
House martin X X X X X X X X
Marsh tit X X X X X X X
Coal tit X X X X X X X
Crested tit X X X X H X
Great tit X X X X X X X
Blue tit X X X X X X X
Eurasian nuthatch X X X X
Eurasian treecreeper X X X X X X
Wren X
Eurasian dipper X X X X X X X
Goldcrest X X X X X X X
Common chiffchaff X X X X X X X
Wood warbler X
Olivaceous warbler X
Blackcap X X X X X X X
Lesser whitethroat X X X
Spotted flycatcher X X X X X
Eurasian robin X X X X X X X
Pied Flycatcher X X X X X
Common redstart X X
Black redstart X X X X X X X
Whinchat X
Blackbird X X X X X X X
Song thrush X X X
European starling X
Alpine accentor X
Dunnock X
Grey wagtail X X X X X X X
White wagtail X X X X X X X X
Water pipit X
Yellowhammer X X
Chaffinch X X X X X X X
Bullfinch X
Common crossbill X X H
Goldfinch X X X X X X X
House sparrow X X X X X X X X
H = Heard only

Additional wildlife seen included fire salamander (in forest north of Ratece), sand lizard, wall lizard, red squirrel, fat dormouse and hedgehog. At least 30 species of butterflies were noted including Camberwell beauty, silver-spotted skipper (frequent), dryad, purple emperor, chestnut heath, arran brown and large wall brown. Moths included Jersey tiger, four-spotted footman and hummingbird hawk-moth. Dragonflies included the near-endemic Balkan Goldenring. Other invertebrates included red-winged grasshopper, blue-winged grasshopper, fire bug and the huge alpine longhorn beetle Rosalia longicorn. Many flowers were still in bloom with crocus, cyclamen and various gentians being particularly showy.
Unfortunately, ash-dieback would seem to be in full swing in this area of Slovenia.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 1 post ] 

All times are UTC [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group

Fatbirder's Top 1000 Birding Websites