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Georgia Wildlife Tour Report 2012 Botanical Birdwatching Holiday

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Georgia Wildlife Tour Report 2012 Botanical Birdwatching Holiday Georgia Greater & Lesser Caucasus A Greentours Trip Report May 9th – 22nd 2012 Led by Kurt Vickery & Tolkha Shetekauri Day 1 May 18th Departure The group met up at Heathrow, enjoyed some coffee before getting aboard the plane. Our flight was to Tbilisi via Baku and it soon became apparent that we were ‘privileged’ to be in the company of a large number of Z-listers, BBC employees and various other noisy hangers on destined for the Eurovision song contest. Kurt was seriously underwhelmed when the girl next to him declared that Englewotsit Humberthingy was up front in first class It was a long flight but the welcoming smile of Shamil, Tolkha and Valikho upon our arrival lifted our spirits and we were soon taken to our hotel for our first night in Georgia. Day 2 May 19th Davit Gareja We awoke to a fine day and soon were on our way to Davit Gareja. Travelling through the suburbs we soon started climbing out of the sprawl and into hilly countryside. Only a matter of a few kilometers passed before Valikho pulled over for us to explore some quite ordinary looking slopes. These, however, were home to one of the floral gems of Georgia, namely the type of Iris iberica. Sadly, after scouring for some time, we were unable to find any sign of the Iris despite being quite sure that we were in the right spot,. However, it wasn’t a waste of time as we did find treasures such as Adonis flammea and Astragalus brachycarpum, the first of many European Bee-eaters and gorgeous displaying Black-headed Buntings. Moving on we encountered increasing numbers of Cattle Egrets especially around shallow seasonal pools, and it was in one of these that we found Swallows collecting mud for their nests and just behind them easily spooked terrapins warming themselves in the sun. Travelling on we entered a rolling prairie-type habitat consisting of huge areas of almost treeless natural grassland. We stopped at an interesting spot that had been cultivated at some time, skirted by a planted area mainly of Ulmus, The ex-cultivated field was a mass of larkspur and Salvia nemorosa, and in the trees we were able to watch our first Green Warblers. A few miles further on we started to encounter quartering Marsh Harriers and it soon became apparent why. The area was wetter in the bottom of the shallow valley that we were following and eventually we arrived at a quite substantial lake. Getting out of the car, the cacophony Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 1 from the abundant Marsh Frogs was quite deafening, but couldn’t mask the explosive song of the numerous competing Great Reed Warblers. It was great fun trying to see them and the Sedge Warblers too. They occasionally gave us a glimpse to reassure us that our song recognition was up to scratch. In the middle of the lake some Ruff dropped into an islet and on the far reed bed a Marsh Harrier was taking nest material - quite wonderful, but we needed to move on. Driving along at a comfortable pace Griffon Vultures circled overhead. On some rocks we found a perched Hoopoe. It had something obviously just right for a hungry chick in its mouth but quite disgusting to us - wherever it had poked its head to get it was obviously quite ‘orrible’ too as its normally resplendent crest was ‘slicked back’ with something unmentionable. From here on the road started to have small thickets of shrubs on each side, mainly of Paliurus and Pyrus salicifolia. This plus the presence of telegraph lines all added up to encourage shrikes, and Red-backed and Lesser Grey were very common along this stretch. We finally arrived at our destination, the sublime monastery of Davit Garija, set in an extraordinary landscape of weather-sculpted rocks that defy description. Before entering the historic site itself a fine picnic was assembled by Valikho, but being naturalists in a new land meant that it was irresistible for us to not just sit and eat, and of course we were walking about with sandwich in one hand and binoculars at the ready in the other! We were a few days later than groups from previous years and it made quite a difference as we chanced upon a mass first emergence of Hungarian Gliders, which had Brenda following them around keenly trying to capture on her camera (her pictures were super). Other butterflies were numerous too, but especially Glanville Fritillary. Kurt found a Holly Blue ovipositing on the flowers of Paliurus! Scattered around the picnic blanket were some fine spikes of Leopoldia caucasica, and in the scrub Peter found some very tall and floriferous Dictamnus caucasicus. The monastery site itself is just beautiful, moulded into a natural amphitheatre. Above it is a very steep climb to a ridge that overlooks Azerbaijan - we just had to go and have a look. These slopes are also a station for Iris iberica iberica, but again we weren’t to see it. We later learned that the season had been so dry that plants had simply aborted flowering, and there were barely any leaves either; we did find the leaves of another Iris, Iris pumila though. Arriving at the top were a number of soldiers, keeping guard as this is more or less the border with Azerbaijan and there has been an uneasy tension in recent times. The soldiers were very friendly and handshakes and smiles were exchanged. From the top of the ridge before us we could see for miles and miles into Azerbaijan. Large numbers of Griffons passed quite close and kept Peter enthralled for some time. The path made a circular route and on the way down we found more butterflies, including Osiris and Mazarine Blue plus a very obliging Cardinal. There were some fine nettle trees and a superb specimen of Lonicera caprifolia. Brenda had decided not to trek all the way up the top and had spent some time just sitting quietly near the monastery. She had been lucky enough to see Golden Orioles and while she was showing us just where, we were treated to views of a Woodchat Shrike. Just before we got back to the car a Blue Rock Thrush appeared before us with a huge caterpillar in its beak. It was time to leave, the low evening light started to backlight the beautiful Stipa on the hillsides making the amble back a joy , Brenda’s sharp eyes found Little Owl and Calandra Lark which Valikho just loved looking at through Kurt’s binoculars while being shown the birds figured in the field guide. A thoroughly enjoyable first taste of Georgia! Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 2 Day 3 May 20th Gudauri via the Jvari Church Another fine morning, Kurt opened his balcony windows that faced some close by treetops and enjoyed watching Greenfinches at close quarters. Turning around to go back in he noticed that a Green Warbler had sacrificed itself on the window. Only nature lovers would take such a thing to the breakfast table but the tragedy of its demise meant that we could admire its tiny exquisite corpse, a beautiful mix of green shades that few get to see. It was a great talking point as was the fact that poached or fried egg or even omelette meant the same thing as far as the waitress was concerned. Our first stop was at the Jvari church, a World Heritage site with a commanding view over the surrounding countryside. In the churchyard we found masses of familiar henbane in disturbed ground but here and there were the startling purple Verbascum phoenicuem and pretty Silene boissieri and a fine array of Centaurea. Below the church were some meadows and a small lake that cried out to be explored. Here we met with some interesting butterflies - Small and Chapman’s Blues and, very large for a ‘grizzled’ skipper, plentiful Yellow-banded Skipper. There were the spikes of Echium russicum here and there. Amongst some scrub we encountered Glass Lizards and overhead a Booted Eagle. A quick explore in some hazel woodland revealed Helleborus caucasicus in fruit. On the fringes Brenda found the largest specimen of Elaeagnus angustifolius imaginable. We moved on and made another stop near another fine church at Ananuri overlooking the Jinvali reservoir. Nearby was a steep rocky hillside thick with stunted hornbeam. A track cutting through the woods had some fine Monkey Orchids and Sword-leaved Helleborine, great colonies of Buglossoides purpureo-caeruleum weaved in and out of the undergrowth and were in fine flower where they received enough light. Butterflies included Adonis Blue and Scarce Swallowtail and we added Coal Tit and Blackcap to the bird list. On the way back we found parasitic Phelypaea coccinea and Ajuga chaemaepitys on a dry bank; the aroma of thyme was close to overwhelming as we disturbed it. Further along our road Tolkha knew of a spot for Snowdrops. It was another very steep rocky hillside covered in the now very familiar hazel and hornbeam woodlands. Not surprisingly we were too late for flowers, but we did find thousands of plants of Galanthus alpinus in fruit. It would have been great to explore further but we needed to get to Gudauri. Our road now followed the deep wide Azagi valley. We could begin to see snow on the mountain tops in the distance, trees became sparser and sparser as we got higher and the flaming blooms of Rhododendron luteum in turn became increasingly frequent. At one point Brenda shouted ‘stop!’ declaring that she had seen a large white raptor; we were about to leave clueless, when out of nowhere appeared our first Egyptian Vulture.
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