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Eastern Turkey and Nakhchivan Wildlife Tour Report 2013

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Eastern Turkey and Nakhchivan Wildlife Tour Report 2013 Ararat: Nakhchivan & Eastern Turkey A Tour for the Alpine Garden Society A Greentours Trip Report 14th – 26th May 2013 Led by Ian Green & Başak Gardner In 2013 we ran a tour that focused on the irises and other bulbs of Eastern Turkey and Nakhchivan. This overlaps with the proposed itinerary (though the dates are a little different) for the 2014 trip to Azerbaijan and so below I’ve kept the daily descriptions of the visit to Nakhchivan to give you a flavor of what you can expect. There is no trip report available for the ‘mainland’ Azerbaijan part of the tour. Day 4 May 17th Ani, Digor & the journey Nakhchivan A longish journey in prospect today so we set off decently early at a little after eight. The clouds were low over the mountains and it was a little chilly but there were blue patches and the weather improved gradually throughout the day. We headed east to the Armenian border reaching Ani after an hour and a half. Our schedule meant that we could only have an hour at this beautifully exposed site. The landscapes are huge – the great volcano in Armenia today was shrouded in cloud only the lower snow-streaked slopes visible and in all directions we could see for miles. Once the capital of the medieval Bagratuni Kingdom, the city was of great importance and junction of various trade routes and at the height of its powers was reputed to have 1001 churches! The remains of streets and houses are most evocative given the remarkable position of the site. Plantlife didn't include any bulbs but it did give us the chance to get to know some of the local 'weeds' such as Asperugo procumbens, the little henbane Hyoscyamus pusillus, two Noneas, one of them melanocarpa, Salvia brachycarpa, and the unusual crucifer Lepidium perfoliatum, a plant whose basal leaves bear as little resemblance to its stem leaves as a palm to a cabbage! Isabelline Wheatears were frequent and we saw Northern and Finsch's too. House Martins and Swifts as well as Crag Martins moved rapidly past, and Long- legged Buzzards soared in the sky. A Hoopoe called from the top of the Church of St Gregory of the Abughamrents and a Common Whitethroat flew for cover below it. A Black Redstart was in the stream. We took a newly done up dirt road through to Digor cutting a huge chunk off our journey and allowing us to see more of the hardly populated and wild lands along the Armenian border. The scenery was always fascinating and often wildly beautiful. We stopped to photograph some striking peaks against a backdrop of Geranium tuberosum. Adonis aestivalis and Bellevalia sarmatica Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 1 were at this spot. Once we'd regained the main road we continued towards Iğdir. Some steppic fields yielded a large population of the impressive Gladiolus atroviolaceus but it was what was on the opposite side of the road that drew the plaudits. For here was a wonderful display of oncocyclus irises. The large white standards were scattered about the steppe (and in some of the fields too) like so many windblown tissues....The population was variable with the falls varying from pale violet-brown to a rich blackish-brown. A fabulous show of Iris iberica. The plants ranged from typical elegantissima to a number that appeared close to the transcaucasian Iris iberica subspecies iberica. We spent a happy half an hour photographing these splendid irises. Almost as good were the abundant Muscari caucasium (like grass...) and Bellevalia sarmatica. Then it was on to Tuzluca for lunch, not having time to stop for such botanical finery as Amberboa moschata, Sophora alopecuroides and Typha minima. We stopped in the town centre by the dolmuş station and walked into a great little restaurant. Sparkling clean, equally efficient and with tasty food, the whole meal was done and dusted in half an hour and we were on the road again. Into Iğdir centre and we were just around ten minutes late meeting our Nakhchivani driver and guides. Their boss, Ali, was there to greet us and we were soon getting into a very plush new Mercedes Sprinter driven by the immaculately groomed Vaghef, our driver for the trip. The baggage was packed into another vehicle and we were off. We headed off to the border. We'd been watching the magnificent peak of Ararat already for a hundred km or so at this stage, first from the west and now we were heading across the northern side where the mountain seemed impossibly big, for here the Aras River is only 600m or so above sea level and Ararat over 5100m, and it is pretty much straight up! No time to stop though. We were passing through some unusual (for Turkey) habitats here with areas of agriculture interspersed with salt steppe covered in shrubby Chenopodiaceae. This is a widespread habitat in Iran where, in early spring, it is a great habitat for bulbs! There were flocks of Rose-coloured Starlings here and there, and Bee-eaters and Rollers were frequent along the wires. Several Blue- cheeked Bee-eaters were seen, this species having a wide gap in its Turkish distribution, the other population being down on the Syrian border. We reached the border with Azerbaijan on the Aras River. And the border with Armenia. And the border with Iran! Well, actually the latter was a few kms away! Formalities took less than an hour. This is not a busy border checkpoint and clearly one that was not much used by tourists. We were surrounded on all sides by a remarkable bird-filled wetland with Pygmy Cormorants, Black- winged Stilts and various gulls and herons everywhere, but couldn't use our optics due to the rather large number of borders! We drove off through the wetland and onto the main road to Nakhchivan. This was an extraordinary large smooth road with no traffic at all. The oil money flowing into Nakhchivan is being invested in the infrastructure now. The route followed the Aras Valley with mountains rising to the left and the twin peaks of Ararat looming over us in front of the lowering sun behind. The valley was green and richly productive in the main, but nearing Nakhchivan city we passed areas of arid steppe, the low hills on the left very barren looking. The city was a revelation. Wide boulevards passed a clean and well laid out city with a mix of old and very new buildings. The population of Nakhchivan enclave (it is not connected directly to Azerbaijan itself, surrounded by Armenia on three sides and Iran on the other) is a mere 400,000 with around seventy thousand in the city, so it is a region of wide open spaces, both inside the city and out. We reached the rather grand looking Grand Hotel and settled in later reconvening for our evening meal which was in a superb open-air restaurant. Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 2 Day 5 May 18th Nakhchivan - Batabat Breakfast was the usual fare served with very good tea. At nine we met Vaghef our driver and Hassan our local 'minder' and drove to a change office for a little familiarisation with the local currency, the Manat. Then it was northwards towards the hills. We drove along a main road that reaches the Armenian border, though that crossing, like all into Armenia, is very much closed. However the popularity of the beautiful countryside here with weekend picnickers from the city means that one is allowed much closer to the border than would normally be countenanced here. The road takes one through a few small villages lower down, but in the main is through open steppe country that soon becomes quite lush until eventually a forest belt is reached. This is beautiful and is protected as a substantial natural reserve which also covers the subalpine meadows above that. Having managed to keep going through increasingly flowery steppe we eventually had to stop due to increased variety of plant and also the fabulous view over a reservoir dotted with islands and with snowy mountains behind. We soon realised that our main quarry for the morning, Iris lycotis, was flowering over the steppe on both sides of the road. This is a truly magnificent iris, the local botanists have even given the form 'magnifica' to the Nakhchivan populations. Cameras were soon out and busy with the huge flowers. Most were really dark, a kind of purplish black, though there were numbers of slightly paler ones where the purple violet tones were more pronounced. They were spread across the steppe, in little groups and singly, and many were still to come. Pat soon found us another Iris, but Iris atropatana was sadly already over, this year it looked well over, the seeds already developing. There were other bulbs too; Muscari caucasica, and little Gladiolus tenuis, still just about in bloom. Crested Larks, Black-headed Buntings and Marsh Warblers were the common birds. Chukar called and two Peregrine Falcons perched on a pylon. I thought they were at their nest, but when they were gone a Hooded Crow flew in and fed its young! Four Ruddy Shelduck flew over calling loudly, an evocative sound and a great sight. There were quite a few butterflies too. Most were Orange-banded Hairstreaks but there were also blues, and a Cardinal, as well as Wall Browns and a spotted-type fritillary. The steppe plants though – wow! There were three poppies – red Papaver arenarium, purple Roemeria hybrida, and the delicate little orange and yellow Glaucium elegans just a few centimetres high.
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