ABSTRACT A holiday by public transport to the Eastern Rhodopes and the Black Sea coast in search for birds and other wildlife. Author Sander Bruylants - [email protected] BULGARIA LATE SPRING 2019 An independent journey Introduction Longing for a holiday I decided to pack my stuff beginning of June. I felt it was time again to discover Europe. Since I don’t want to fly within Europe I decided to make it a journey by train and bus. The south-eastern Balkan was uncharted territory for me, so I made for Bulgaria. This country hold some specialties within Europe, like Masked Shrike, Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler, Semi-collared Flycatcher, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Olive-tree Warbler, Paddyfield Warbler, … Also Eleonora’s Falco is possible, which come and hunt in the south. Add some attractive landscapes and other wildlife and I was sold. I focussed on the Eastern Rhodopes (referred to as Rhodopes from now) since they hold most of my targets and I had heard it’s a very nice place. The landscape in the Rhodopes is a mixture of rugged rocky areas, rolling hills and plains covered with woodlands and extensive cultivated landscapes. Rivers cross the landscape and artificially made reservoirs can be found. It is a fairly remote area but still rather easy to travel without a car. Madzharovo is the centre for nature tourism due to the presence of one of the only Griffon colonies in Bulgaria. There is a Nature Conservation Centre which has an exhibition about the area and its inhabitants. Another gem from the Rhodopes is the Bulgarian Emerald (Somatochlora borisi), this species of dragonfly was discovered in 1999 ( and described in 2001) at the Byala Reka in the south of the Rhodopes. Itinerary Gent→Munich→Zagreb→Belgrade→Sofia→Haskovo→Studen Kladenets→Madzharovo→Ivaylovgrad→Meden Buk→Levka→ Goritsa→Burgas→Sofia→Belgrade→Zagreb→Munich→Gent Logistics I chose to travel by public transport towards and from Bulgaria. In Bulgaria I used both public transport and hitchhiking. Trains A helpful site for train travel is www.seat61.com, well explained which routes you can take by train! Waiting time for the connection varied. Train leg Gent-Munich was booked through www.Bahn.de, prices can vary. Between Munich and Zagreb I took a night train and used the couchette wagon. This was booked through www.oebb.at. Zagreb-Belgrade was done by train. Tickets need to be purchased in the station. This was a rather slow train and bit smelly. On the way back I opted for the bus. Busses In the Balkans its is easier to take the bus, as trains are often rather slow. Belgrade-Sofia was done by Florentina bus. This was a good bus with USB sockets. I had a discount if book online. Sofia-Haskovo was also done by bus and purchased in the station. In the Rhodopes, busses are scarce and operate mostly early morning. There are busses from Haskovo to Madzharovo and Ivaylovgrad. Possibly also to Studen Kladenets, but can’t recall seeing one. At the coast busses are frequent. Burgas-Sofia was done by bus using one of the many private bus compagnies of Bulgaria. Sofia-Belgrade was done by Eurolines bus, small bus with less space. This bus had better schedules then the Florentina bus. Belgrade-Zagreb was booked in front. I had to pay extra for the luggage. Accommodation I often camped at random places. In Madzharovo I stayed in a room (2p+bathroom) at the Nature Conservation centre for 50 leva/night. In Mandritsa I stayed 1 night in a hotel also double bedroom with shared bathroom, for 32 leva + breakfast. In Burgas I stayed at the A16 Hostel for two nights in a 4 person room. Nice and well equipped hostel. I paid 54 leva in total, but can be cheaper actually, since I used an annulation option through booking.com. In Sofia I stayed at the Moreto & Caffeto Hostel on my way back for 1 night. About 12 leva for a bed. In Belgrade I stayed in Hedonist Hostel for 1 night on the way back for about 15 euro. Also a nice hostel. This was booked through hostelworld.com. Maps and literature Maps I bought an overview map of Bulgaria and a map of the Rhodopes. The Rhodopes map (domino tourist map) contained 88 historical and natural sites with a bit of information. In the end I mostly used my phone with the maps.me app. All my waypoints were stored in here. Books I got the Crossbill Guide from the Library and took photographs of the most interesting routes. As bird guide I used the Collin guide. Internet Bird songs of target birds were downloaded from www.xeno-canto.org. To get myself familiar with good birding locations and species specific sites I made a waypoint map, gathering information from www.ebird.org and www.bulgaria.observation.org. Also some reports from www.cloudbirders.com were used. Trip report The main goal of this trip was enjoying nature and the landscape. Since I was not that mobile and targets were few, I didn’t went from spot to spot to search for targets. Figure 1 Overview of all observations made. Day 1-3: on the way A short description of traveling towards the Rhodopes by public transport. I left Gent a bit after noon by train and switched in Brussel-Zuid to an ICE train heading for Frankfurt. These trains are fast, comfy and have Wi-Fi. In Frankfurt I changed to another ICE to Munich. Arrived at 21:10 in Munich I went for a bite and a beer at the Augustiner-keller. At 23:10 I boarded the couchette of the train to Zagreb. Night trains make traveling easy. After a border control on the train at the Slovenia-Croatian border I arrived around 8 am in Zagreb. It was raining so I hung around the station buying some food and train tickets for the leg towards Belgrade. In Zagreb 4 friends joined who were going to Montenegro. We arrived in Belgrade around 19h, with about an hour delay. Since my bus to Sofia was at 4:30 am I asked around on couchsurfing if anyone wanted to show me around. A local host picked me up at the station and we dropped my friends at their station. I had a nice evening in an international company and went straight to the bus. The bus was 45 minutes late but arrived on time in Sofia around noon. Here I took the bus to Haskovo, the regional capital. From the bus I saw my only Lesser-spotted Eagles. Figure 2 Overview map of the Arda river area. Day 3: entering the Rhodophes Haskovo is the gateway to the Rhodopes. I started hitching and got a lift to the outskirts of town. Here I was welcomed by Black-headed Buntings, Corn Buntings, Red-backed Shrikes and Eastern Olivaceous Warbler. I hitched and walked through a nice landscape where agricultural areas and woodlands dominate. By the evening I was east of Lyaskovets at the 593. European Turtle Doves, Common Nightingales and Hoopoe were singing and the metallic sound of Hawfinches could be heard from the trees. I took a dirt track and installed myself between the wildflowers on a flat space of the hillslope. Figure 3 Map of the campsite location Day 4: Beautiful morning and getting to Studen Kladenets I woke up just before sunrise in a colourful landscape. A group of Sombre Tits where around and a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was searching for breakfast. I packed my stuff and walked further along the way. In the oak woodlands I found Cirl Bunting and Subalpine Warbler. Booted Eagle and Griffon Vulture soared overhead while I made my way towards Studen Kladenets. In Madjari the first White Stork nests and the Spanish Sparrows underneath appeared. Golden Orioles where singing along the road. I arrived at Studen Kladenets around noon and went to point 5 of route 4 in the Crossbill Guide (41.611001, 25.637774). This site is good for dragonflies with Odalisque, Eastern Spectre and Turkish Goldering. Also there is a breeding couple of Dipper here. I saw an adult and juvenile. Eleonora’s Falcon sometimes hunt along the river so I kept my eyes to the sky but couldn’t find any. I walked up the riverbed towards the second dam and dropped my stuff there to explore the valley and surroundings. Walking up the slopes a group of Woodlarks was flushed and an Ortolan Bunting was singing. A group of 10 Griffons soared overhead. In the evening I pitched my tent at the dam and at dusk a Nightjar started to sing. Figure 4 Studen Kladenets region. Day 5: To the Krumovitsa River I decided to leave my stuff at my campingsite and pack light for a half day excursion to the Krumovitsa river. According to the Crossbill Guide, this is a good spot for Eleonora’s Falcon. Walked the first part and saw the first Crag Martin of the trip. Got a ride to the village of Potochnitsa and started walking. Just before the road turned (41.601202, 25.677986) it started to look interesting and I decided to check the bushes. Soon I found a singing Sardinian Warbler, Short-toed Eagle, Booted Eagle, Alpine Swift and Roller. Eastern Olivaceous Warblers were common and suddenly my attention was drawn by a deep crackling sound. It resembled Great Reed Warbler a bit and I knew this had to be an Olive-tree Warbler. I soon after heard another one singing.