Slovakia An Alpine Garden Society Tour A Greentours Trip Report 7th – 16th July 2013 Led by Martin Hrouzek Itinerary 7th July Arrival at Vienna 8th July Certoryje, Zahrady (White Carpathians) 9th July Vyskovec, Vrsatec, Pruske (White Carpathians), early arrival to Terchova 10th July Forest above Kubikova, Snilovske sedlo pass, Stefanova (Mala Fatra NP) 11th July Lucky, Besenova (Chocske hills), Botanical garden in Tatr. Lomnica 12th July Poland, Tatr. Javorina, forest track near Zdiar in rain 13th July Lomnicke sedlo pass, Belanske luky meadows (The High Tatras) 14th July Tatr. Javorina to Kopske sedlo pass (The Belanske Tatras) 15th July Krakow city tour 16th July Departure from Krakow Day 1 ARRIVAL (7th July) The tour was much influenced by the fact that 3 out of 4 participants wanted to watch birds rather than to look for flowers and they had no objections to make changes to the original itinerary. It was though not too possible to reorganize things to have a satisfactory birdwatching. July is the worst month when most species go quiet and moult before migration. We were nowhere near a nice wetland site where birds are still in abundance throughout the summer. Despite that we managed to visit all of the sites as per itinerary and enjoy some nice flowers and other wildlife. Days 2-4 WHITE CARPATHIANS, MALA FATRA NP (8th to 10th July) CERTORYJE, White Carpathians (8th July) Large area of flowery meadows at Czech-Slovak border. Certoryje reserve itself covers around 700 hectares. The meadows are dotted with solitary trees, mainly oaks and lindens.The season was much advanced here due to the long lasting heat and many flowers were in seed or gone due to the big drought in May and June. Still we managed to see a wonderful variety of mesophilic meadow species. Flowers included: Stachys alpina and sylvatica, beautiful specimens of Senecio umbrosus, Astrantia major, Cirsium panonnicum, Centaureum erythraeum, Inula salicina, Centaurea jacea, Trifolium montanum, Dorycnium germanicum, Linum flavum, Scabiosa ochroleuca, Cuscuta epithymum, Lathyrus latifolius, Stachys recta, Vincetoxicum hirundinaria, Gymnadenia conopsea, Lathyrus niger, Silene vulgaris, Melampyrum nemorosum, Rhinanthus major, Centaurea stenolepis, Campanula rapunculoides, Asarum europaeum, Anthericum ramosum, Betonica Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 1 officinalis, Prunella grandiflora, Campanula glomerata, Helianthemum grandiflorum and obscurum, Inula ensifolia, Dianthus carthusianorum, Centaurea scabiosa, Salvia verticillata, Knautia kitaibelii, Melampyrum cristatum, Hieracium maculatum, Chrysanthemum corymbosum, Thalictrum simplex, Cirsium arvense, Geranium sanguineum, Linaria vulgaris, Salvia pratensis, Anthylis vulneraria, Serratula tinctoria, Nepeta panonnica, Melitis melissophylum, Allium carinatum, Ononis spinosa, Elytrigia intermedia, Danthonia alpina and decumbens, and Digitalis grandiflora. Important meadow phytocenosis with Molinia arundinacea and Carex montana was also seen. Butterflies: Scarce Swallowtail and Swallowtail, Large, Green-veined, Small and Wood White, Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Great Banded Grayling, Short-tailed, Small, Holly and Common Blue, Scarce Copper, White-letter Hairstreak, Marbled and Lesser Marbled Fritillary, Purple Emperor, Peacock, Map Butterfly, Heath, Dark Green and Silver-washed Fritillary, Ringlet, Chestnut Heath, Dingy, Essex, Large, Small and Large Chequered Skipper, Zygaena filipendulae. ZAHRADY POD HAJEM, White Carpathians (8th July) Beside flowers that were seen repeatedly we found more species along the track. Trifolium rubens, Iris graminea, Bromus erectus, Carex flacca and montana, Orchis ustulata and militaris (in seed), Gymnadenia conopsea, Gentiana cruciata, Silaum silaus, Epipactis palustris and muelleri, Melampyrum nemorosum praecox, Galium verum, Pseudolysimachion orchideum, Ornithogalum brevistyllum, Centaurea jacea, Pyrethrum corymbosum, Thalictrum lucidum and minus, Colchicum autumnale. Butterflies showed wery well and we managed to closely inspect all the below listed species. It was hot and peaking summer season. There were especially good numbers of Alcon (4mM1mF) and Scarce Large Blue (20+fMF), both beautiful butterflies and not worn at all. Others were Scarce Swallowtail and Swallowtail, Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Great Banded Grayling, Brown Argus, Short-tailed, Chapman´s (5+fM) and Common Blue, Scarce Copper, Twin-spot Fritillary (1mF), Peacock, Red Admiral, Weaver´s (1fM), Dark Green and Silver-washed Fritillary, Small and Wood White, Pale Clouded Yellow, Brimstone, Ringlet, Dingy, Essex, Small and Large Chequered Skipper (20+). Birds of the day were just a few. Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker, Golden Oriole, Sparrowhawk, Red-backed Shrike and Mistle Thrush are worth a mention. VYSKOVEC, White Carpathians (9th July) Weather was bad and windy. We hoped to see some birds at this mountain village but they were quiet and we better continued to Vrsatec, our first site in Slovakia. VRSATEC, White Carpathians (9th July) We took a short and easy trail across the hillside and found a few interesting plants in bloom. The carpets of flowers usually seen there in June were gone. Dozen or so Apollos were very pleasing and other butterflies included Chalk-hill Blue, Silver-spotted Skipper, Geranium Argus, Large Wall Brown and Comma. Flowers were represented by Dianthus carthusianorum, Vincetoxicum hirundinaria, Epipactis atrorubens in seeds, Scabiosa lucida and Prunela laciniata. Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 2 Late lunch in Pruske was taken in an ordinary restaurant. We could taste a menu of the day and see how Slovaks dine on a working day. Then we moved to Mala Fatra National park for a two night stay. MALA FATRA MOUNTAINS (10th July) ABOVE KUBIKOVA (10th July) We spent the morning in a forest above the village of Kubikova near a small pass. This was intended to bring some more forest species of birds. Forest with nice stands of old spruces and beeches was alive with bird calls at times. We managed to watch Goldcrest and Firecrest, glimpsed Goshawk and recorded a couple of commoner forest songbirds like Bullfinch and Siskin. Spotted Flycatcher posed well and we had several good views of Crested Tit. Great Spotted Woodpecked showed couple of times, Black Woodpecker was flying round at two spots while Three-toed slipped through as we were trying to get a better view of it. We also found one of the biggest European butterflies, a Poplar Admiral. SNILOVSKE SEDLO PASS (10th July) We took a lift to Snilovske saddle at 1300m where we expected many alpine flowers to be in blossom. Weather was beautiful and sunny. There were a few tourists on trails and everyone enjoyed time spent on his own after an initial botanizing as a group. Flowers: Dianthus nitidus, Polygonum bistorta, Knautia alpina, Pedicularis verticillata, Cicerbita alpina, Doronicum montanum, Swertia perennis, Thymus alpestris, Cirsium erisithale, Parnassia palustris, Allium victorialis, Campanula glomerata, Rhodiola rosea, Silene rubrum, Anthyllis vulneraria, Cerastium sp., Tofieldia calyculata, Chrysanthemum alpinum, Linum extraaxillare, Holcus lanatus, Scabiosa lucida, Phyteuma orbiculare and spicatum, Delphinium elatum, Draba aizoides, Salix reticulata, Salix alpina, Dactylorhiza fuchsii, Biscutella laevigata, Hypochoeris sp., Campanula cochleariifolia, Lycopodium clavatum, Homogyne alpina, Centaurea alpestris, Saxifraga moschata and paniculata, Polygala amara, and Dryas octopetala. Other wildlife recorded were Water Pipit, glimpsed Alpine Accentor, Peregrine, Mountain Ringlet, Brimstone, Large Wall Brown and Small Tortoiseshell. STEFANOVA (10th July) Short walk following the tourist trail from village Stefanova produced some flowers and smaller birds. Highlight was probably an extremely elusive Nutcracker that we saw at short distance in the spruce forest understorey. Flowers were represented by Eriophorum angustifolium, Campanula glomerata, Doronicum austriacum, Epipactis neglecta and Gladiolus imbricatus. Birds included usual Grey Wagtail and Dipper along the stream. Day 5 TO THE TATRAS (11th July) LUCKY (11th July) We met our guide Bohus who received a call up only previous day. We went to his favourite area to look for birds. Although it was likely that we will see virtually nothing we tried and spend some 3 hours on a winding forest track with a small incline. Birds were very elusive and we watched mostly passerines from time to time, an odd woodpecker showed briefly a few times. And so the Greentours Natural History Holidays www.greentours.co.uk 3 best bird was a Goshawk in Lucky village at the beginning of the valley. There were nice wet meadows along the stream and we stopped at clump of Telekia speciosa in full blossom. It was not a botanical site at all. Other flowers were Lilium martagon, Epipactis atrorubens, Digitalis grandiflora, Salvia glutinosa, Gymnadenia conopsea and Platanthera chlorantha. Butterflies Large Wall Brown, Silver-washed Fritillary, Large and Silver-spotted Skipper and Lesser Marbled Fritillary. BESENOVA (11th July) The last bird species of this walk was Goldeneye, a family of 3 females and 17 juveniles - the first proved nesting of the species in Slovakia! They nested in nestboxes as we were told and this success encouraged Bohumil Murin who accompanied us to put out more boxes. Besides, there were couple of waterfowl species on the water, gulls, terns, White Stork, Sedge and River Warbler and other passerines round. Geranium Argus showed well.