Go Slow…. In Istria in Autumn Naturetrek Tour Report 1 - 8 October 2019 Althea cannabina Flame Brocade Spiranthes spiralis Monkodonja Report and images by Paul Tout & Paul Harmes Naturetrek Mingledown Barn Wolf's Lane Chawton Alton Hampshire GU34 3HJ UK T: +44 (0)1962 733051 E: [email protected] W: www.naturetrek.co.uk Tour Report Go Slow…. In Istria in Autumn Tour participants: Paul Tout and Paul Harmes (leaders) with 14 Naturetrek clients Day 1 Tuesday 1st October Trieste Airport - Istarske Toplice (our hotel accommodation) Paul Harmes met up with the group at Stansted. Arriving at Trieste airport just after 5pm, we passed through passport control, collected our luggage and moved out into the Arrivals hall where we were met by Paul Tout. We were soon on our way towards Istria, passing through the very attractive historic centre of Trieste and on towards Koper-Capodistria, the main port in Slovenia. At the crossroads of Europe where the three main language groups meet (Romance, Slav and Germanic), the area is an ethnic mix with large areas of bi- (and even tri-) lingualism, so place names are usually hyphenated, made up of two languages. The weather was fine, sunny and warm. We took the road for the centre of Trieste along the Costiera. but no Alpine Swifts were visible. They nest in a colony on the cliffs beside the road and they continue to visit the colonies until mid-October but evidently, they were feeding high up in the fine weather. Passing through the centre of Trieste, the city looked very fine in the evening light, with its Viennese-style waterfront and main square, Piazza Unita d’Italia, the only one in Italy that opens onto the sea. After 90 minutes we arrived at our destination with time to unpack and brush up before going for a very nice meal. This evening we were at the Konoba Oprtalj, as our regular restaurant, Dolina, in the village of Gradinje closes on a Tuesday. After dinner, glancing out from the town walls, Noctule bats could be seen hunting up and down in the lights. Day 2 Wednesday 2nd October Around the hotel; Mirna-Quieto valley. Our first morning dawned cloudy and calm and the decent weather meant that we could explore the area around the hotel which is excellent in wildlife terms. With clear conditions the overnight temperatures were rather low. During the night the local Eagle-Owl was calling behind the hotel. Our walk took us round the hotel grounds with the amazing rockfaces. It was rather quiet but the birds recorded included a large female Goshawk, Middle Spotted (heard) and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (heard) and Spotted Flycatcher, while butterflies included numbers of Clouded Yellows, a Pale (or Berger’s) Clouded Yellow, Common Blue, Woodland Grayling, Large Wall Brown and a very late female Silver-washed Fritillary. Lunch was taken on the tables beside our hotel, but the weather was worsening as lunch went on and around 2pm it began to rain, so it was decided to do some birding from the buses along the Mirna-Quieto river from the sea and back towards the hotel. The weather remained poor with heavy intermittent showers and it began to get cold. Birds seen included a single Ferruginous Duck, plenty of Great Egrets, a juvenile Red Kite (a very rare bird in Istria and in Croatia more generally, only returning as a breeder to eastern part of the country in 2019 after an absence of 50 years), and Common Sandpiper. Moving up the river towards our hotel, the influence of the sea declined, and the birds were more typical of farmland. Birds seen included Hobby, Great Grey Shrike, Meadow Pipits and a large flock of Corn Buntings, a very common bird on farmland in Istria. © Naturetrek December 19 1 Go Slow…. In Istria in Autumn Tour Report In the evening, making our way to take the daily log, about 20 Alpine Swifts were to be seen and heard high above the hotel. These birds nest in the quarry above the hotel and are usually around until mid-October, much later than is the case for Common Swift. Only Pallid Swifts stay longer, until early November. Tonight was our first meal in the Dolina restaurant and it was as splendid as expected with lots and lots of truffles. Day 3 Thursday 3rd October Kamenjak peninsula; Pula Arena, Monkodonja hill-fort. This morning we attempted to dodge an extensive cold front passing through by making our way down to the very southern tip of Istria, the Kamenjak peninsula, with, it must be said, very limited success. The day, however, was not a complete write-off and the weather improved greatly in the afternoon. As we made our way southwards along the motorway towards Pula, the weather worsened rapidly, with driving rain and strong winds. Arriving at the Kamenjak peninsula, the rain was almost horizontal and there was no point in getting out of the minibuses. Other than a view of the site, little was gained, and we made our way to the Pula Arena, by which time the rain was beginning to lessen a little. Pula’s is the sixth largest Roman arena still standing, and once held 20,000 spectators, indicating the importance and wealth of the area 1,600 years ago, with an economy based on wine and olive oil and a vast number of agricultural workers living in the vicinity at the time. It survived the depredations suffered by arenas elsewhere because of a collapse in Istria’s population after the departure of the Romans and the abundance of the raw materials (marble and limestone) in the immediate vicinity which meant that the old site was not looted. Two Pallid Swifts were seen over the arena during the visit. The species has nested in the nearby Venetian church tower since at least the mid-1990s. Our final stop of the day was further back in time, at the hill-fort of Monkodonja, close to the city of Rovinj- Rovigno. Construction on this immense structure, covering several hectares, began almost 4,000 years ago when people arrived in Istria from further south in the Balkans. At its peak, Monkodonja was inhabited by about 1,000 people and was occupied right through the Roman period and until the sixth century and the arrival of Slavic peoples from the east around the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire. Occupation of the hill-fort seems to have ended with a terrible massacre as many skeletons were discovered in trenches at the base of the walls dating to this period and no finds on the site date later than this period. Local project managers have overseen the clearing away of scrub from the main section of the hill-fort and this has had a marvellous effect on the flora. We had a picnic lunch and made our way up onto the fort with a magnificent view to the Adriatic and several islands offshore. Birds were thin on the ground, but we did see a Hobby, Woodlark, a Sardinian Warbler and a Wheatear together with a continued passage of Chaffinches. The plants were much more interesting and included hundreds of Autumn Lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) and the last few Autumn Squill (Prospero autumnale), large patches of Common Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) and Yellow Odontites (Odontites luteus). Lots of butterflies were seen, including Clouded Yellow, a Holly Blue in the Holm Oak scrub, several Common Blues, a fresh Painted Lady, Woodland Grayling and Common Grayling, Wall Brown and Large Wall Brown. We also added a Migratory Locust, many Blue-winged Grasshoppers and a Common Cone-headed (also called Nosed) Grasshopper. 2 © Naturetrek December 19 Go Slow…. In Istria in Autumn Tour Report The spot was beautiful and after such a terrible start, the weather was now excellent, but by now it was time to return to our hotel. As on other evenings the local Eagle-Owl began hooting at about 6pm but still appears to be without a mate. Day 4 Friday 4th October Zrenj-Stridone, St. Mary of the Snows church; Motovun-Montona The weather continued to hold and, although it was still chilly and misty in the mornings, any fog soon cleared, and we were able to enjoy the sunshine. We were able to run the moth-traps overnight and caught a few including Orange Swift, a Map-winged Swift, Many-lined, Yellow Shell, a Scalloped Oak, a Square-spot Rustic, White Point, the European noctuid Mniotype solieri and a single Silver-Y. Today we went up onto the high plain above the hotel, for a walk close to and through the lovely village of Zrenj-Stridone. There is a lovely old meadow close to the village’s cemetery, filled with Autumn Lady’s-tresses some of which spiralled clockwise, others anticlockwise and a small number not at all. There were also several Autumn Crocus (Colchium autumnale) in flower and many butterflies on the wing, including Clouded Yellow, Pale (or Berger’s) Clouded Yellow, a Red Admiral and Wall Brown and a single Queen of Spain Fritillary. We chatted to a local lady who had collected a couple of kilos of Parasol Mushrooms (Macrolepiota procera). She kindly let us enjoy the figs from her garden close by. One of the most interesting sightings was a Praying Mantis, a large pregnant female; Paul T. also found a spongy Praying Mantis ootheca (egg mass) beneath a rock while looking for lizards. Walking through the village, there was a constant movement of small birds overhead, mostly Chaffinches but also White Wagtails.