Bulgaria on the cheap

[Dave Williams]

Instead of linking to my blog I thought I might paste a version here as it can be read in chronological order more easily.

Here goes.

When you have just returned from some decent weather in Spain having left your wife to suffer the rain and cold of a British Spring you feel somewhat guilty and have a need to make amends a.s.a.p.

OK dear, let's see where we can go on a last minute package deal.

To my surprise the cost of last minute deals seemed quite high across most of Europe and we seriously considered Cuba as an all inclusive there came in at around £800pp, then I spotted Bulgaria and the Bella Vista Beach Club in Sinemoretz on the south eastern Black Sea Coast.

Now I have been to Bulgaria twice before ( with Mike whom I'd just been to Spain with!) and I have to stay it's a stunningly beautiful country for the most part with one exception. 

Sunny Beach and surrounds.

I'd passed through previously and Mike and I had declared we wouldn't be taking a holiday with our wives there, that's for sure. My idea of holiday hell.

The Bella Vista Beach Club was coming in at £420pp all inclusive for 11 nights. Half the price of Cuba and a lot less time to get there too.

A quick check on Google Maps and the area looked good. Two hours south of Sunny Beach, surrounded by a national park. We read a couple of Trip Advisor reviews and took a punt and booked it to leave 17 days later.

Then we read a few more TA reviews and to be honest, all the negatives that were being reported were seen as positives. It was allegedly boring, nothing to do, no shops, you had to pay extra for cocktails( at that price and they were still complaining?) it was at least a 90 minute drive from the airport even worse it was beyond hope of getting to Sunny Beach for a night out ( they obviously hadn't read the reviews or even thought to look at a map) and the food was cold, repetitive and with little choice.

The latter concerned me slightly but we'd eat out if the worst came to the worst.

Off we went then. An evening flight got us to Burgas for around 12.00am, there was a man waiting at arrivals to whisk us off to the hotel as we were the only ones heading that way. Thankfully, the mass of rather over excited youths we had suffered on the plane were heading to Sunny Beach.

Arrival at the hotel was straight forward, a quick check in as there were just two of us and off we headed to our room. The hotel wasn't palatial by any means but what we saw was very acceptable. We had a huge room and they had even thought to leave us a picnic pack which was a nice surprise.

By now it was 2.00am which even in UK time which is 2 hours behind is past my bedtime.

Next morning we woke up to glorious sunshine and a view of our surrounds.

Not bad, it was nearly 10.00am. We'd slept in but breakfast was served until 11.00am and there aren't many place that do so that late. The choice of food was amazing too. You name it it was there.

Most people were already on the sunbeds by now so the good news was the restaurant was quiet and there was plenty of space to eat in the outdoors area. Bliss!

OK at 10.00am the animation team sprung in to action, the loudspeakers were on full blast and Justin Timberlake boomed out " You've got sunshine in your pockets". This holiday camp atmosphere seemed to go down well with most of the clientele so fair do's. I note it's had over 633 million plays on Spotify and the Bella Vista wasn't far behind. It was played four or five times a day and signalled the start of another major event.

" Can't stop the feeling"

You end up can't stop humming the tune either.

Well sunbeds and joining in the programme of activities wasn't on my agenda and fortunately there was a totally unoccupied roof terrace for wife Claire to have less intrusion from the general noise down below.

Me?

It was supposed to be a holiday for Claire but I was hopeful I'd be kept occupied with my camera too.

I'd soon find out!

T.B.C.

I have taken a few European holidays in June/July time and for the most part the birding has been very poor so I wasn't too hopeful of what I'd find in Bulgaria either but I had decided to pack my 500mm lens just in case. Our baggage allowance was pretty miserable so no room for a tripod but I could hand hold the 500. Claire had suggested I take the 100-400 but I was adamant, the 500 it was!

A decision I might come to regret later perhaps but one I thought worth risking. To save weight I left my heavy 1D camera at home and took the much lighter 7D2 and a back up 5D3 which also meant I could use the same batteries and charger too. No space for my laptop but I had plenty of camera cards for storage space.

All set then!

I bade goodbye to Claire up on the roof top terrace ( where I took this shot)

and headed along to dirt road behind the beach which soon led to some open semi ploughed fields.

Red-backed Shrike,Starling and Corn Bunting were all seen but the photo opportunities were not good.

A pair of Turtle Doves were the best spot

but that was about it. I returned to the hotel only to wait for the heat to lessen before returning for another look.

My Shrike shots were not worth sharing but I was delighted when the usually elusive Nightingale came out in to the open for a brief moment or two.

I have only ever seen two or three in the past so I was happy with that one, I also heard and spotted distant Golden Oriole. Things were looking interesting. If I just managed one decent subject a day I'd be happy, anything else was a bonus.

Photo's weren't exactly coming thick and fast though so to make life more interesting I decided to diversify!

Dragonflies in flight are as frustrating as swallows and the like but it's fun trying, well for a while anyway. If you continue too long you might be tempted to chuck your gear in the stream they were flying over.

Butterflies in flight are probably even worse as they are so unpredictable, far easier to catch them sitting on a plant!

I still haven't figured what that one is yet, there's a whole world of new species to discover.

Once you diversify though there's no bounds to what Mother Nature has to offer, some make splendid subjects too.

No, I decided I was going to be happy here for the next 10 days, well 9 full ones actually.

TBC

 

Our second day in Sinemorets was another late start. Catching up 2 hours takes a little doing when you are not forced to get out of bed so it was 9.30am before we hit breakfast. The previous evenings meal, a huge buffet selection had been a lot better than expected, I even had seconds of the Lasagne, and we had spent the evening in the downstairs bar where the G&T's were stronger than I realised!

Still, once again I was ready with my camera and after Justin Timberlake had welcomed in the new day I headed off across the beach shown in the last post.

I felt a little uncomfortable carrying a rather large telephoto lens amongst scantily clad sunbathers and naked children paddling in the sea and river but no one challenged me and I was thankful to reach the far corner where you can make a short scramble up on to the headland beyond.

A fairly large grassland area on the cliff top overlooks the Black Sea which is currently extremely blue due to an algae which has made international news .

Just like Spain, I was really impressed by this wild flower and grassland area which is protected as part of the nature park.

There were butterflies everywhere. 

I , being more interested in birds really, targeted a Corn Bunting which had just caught a Grasshopper.

Moving on across the grassland I found myself overlooking a small and well sheltered but rather rocky beach.

I was only 10-15 minutes away from the hotel but it was so, so peaceful. Beyond this beach and the headland was a larger more sandy beach again which was virtually deserted.

Not many people made the effort to get this far which is a shame. However this seclusion was obviously attractive to the few that favoured naked sunbathing. Once again I felt a bit ill at ease carrying a telephoto lens even if I was perched up on a cliff top far from their view. 

It was those few that passed me heading that way that might get the wrong impression!

The answer was simple. Make sure they could see why I was there and start photographing butterflies!

It was actually good fun as I found it very challenging.

So much so I started realising how many different insects that were around.

 

Our second day in Sinemorets was another late start. Catching up 2 hours takes a little doing when you are not forced to get out of bed so it was 9.30am before we hit breakfast. The previous evenings meal, a huge buffet selection had been a lot better than expected, I even had seconds of the Lasagne, and we had spent the evening in the downstairs bar where the G&T's were stronger than I realised!

Still, once again I was ready with my camera and after Justin Timberlake had welcomed in the new day I headed off across the beach shown in the last post.

I felt a little uncomfortable carrying a rather large telephoto lens amongst scantily clad sunbathers and naked children paddling in the sea and river but no one challenged me and I was thankful to reach the far corner where you can make a short scramble up on to the headland beyond.

A fairly large grassland area on the cliff top overlooks the Black Sea which is currently extremely blue due to an algae which has made international news .

Just like Spain, I was really impressed by this wild flower and grassland area which is protected as part of the nature park.

There were butterflies everywhere. 

I , being more interested in birds really, targeted a Corn Bunting which had just caught a Grasshopper.

Moving on across the grassland I found myself overlooking a small and well sheltered but rather rocky beach.

I was only 10-15 minutes away from the hotel but it was so, so peaceful. Beyond this beach and the headland was a larger more sandy beach again which was virtually deserted.

Not many people made the effort to get this far which is a shame. However this seclusion was obviously attractive to the few that favoured naked sunbathing. Once again I felt a bit ill at ease carrying a telephoto lens even if I was perched up on a cliff top far from their view. 

It was those few that passed me heading that way that might get the wrong impression!

The answer was simple. Make sure they could see why I was there and start photographing butterflies!

 

It was actually good fun as I found it very challenging.

So much so I started realising how many different insects that were around.

From the huge wasp like creatures to tiny little bugs

Weird and wonderful shapes and colours.

The biggest problem was that with my telephoto lens I had to move back 3.7m as that's the minimum focus distance. Even with a 1.4 teleconverter to magnify the image they were still probably no bigger in the frame than you could achieve using a shorter lens...... like my 100-400 where you can focus from about 1m away although if you get too close the subject is likely to fly away of course. The big problem with telephoto lenses is also the very shallow depth of field, the area were you get everything in absolute focus. You can make that area larger by altering the lens aperture ( sorry my attempts of technical detail are neither well explained or interesting to many) but in doing so it does effect shutter speeds and ISO. Even in good light the 7D2 I was using doesn't have a particularly good higher ISO performance.

Anyway, it was a good cover, and I was actually enjoying this new world I was exploring.

I spotted a trio of Cormorants perched on rocks at the furthest point out to sea and decided I'd take a closer look.

One flew but the other two stayed for a photo before I found myself gingerly walking across the steeply sloping rocky outcrop that led to the big sandy beach........... and two naked people who were only a few metres away.

Hopefully they had seen me first from their little hiding place in the mini cove and would have seen me photographing the birds, anyway I shuffled past, eyes averted and they said nothing.

I decided to get off the beach a.s.a.p. just in case someone took exception!

Heading inland I found it led to endless miles of woodland tracks.

You can walk for ages and not see a single person. I repeated the walks at least 6 or 7 times and probably bumped in to three other groups of 2 or 3 in the whole time I was there.

This is apparently one of Europes oldest original forests and it must be a wildlife heaven.It stretches for 450 square miles inland but if it's similar over the whole area it's largely oak trees growing there and they provide food and homes for countless species.

The biggest problem for me was seeing what was about. There was a reasonable amount of bird song but with all the leaves views were fleeting if managed at all.

Jays , love oak trees and the other woodland bird that was in evidence was the Chaffinch.

I heard and saw Nuthatch,Chiffchaff but Woodpecker remained out of sight so I couldn't be sure which species it was. I wasn't too bothered about getting decent shots as I have seen them before instead I carried on photographing insects whenever I came to a tiny clearing in the forest.

I have seen those big black bee-like creatures many times before but still don't know what they are called.

The Burnet moth is easy to identify as we get them here in N Wales during the summer but butterflies are an altogether different problem for me as so many look so similar.

I decided my shots were getting a bit better with practice too!

You can see what I mean about depth of field though. If you get the right angle or a side on shot it looks better.

For this Balkan Green Lizard though even F22 doesn't bring the whole body in to focus and the subsequent shutter speed of 1/320 isn't the best for hand holding a big lens. 

Mind you if I went any closer the Lizard would have run so there are some advantages I gained.

No the biggest problem of the lot is identifying what you have seen. Where do you start looking for something like this?

Anyway, for the time being it remains a mystery but if anyone want's to tell me I would appreciate the answer.

Back in Bulgaria it was now mid afternoon and the sun was getting hot. Arriving back at the hotel it was too late for lunch and besides I wasn't that hungry. Instead we headed down for the pizza and burgers that are on offer from 2.30-5.30pm. Showing great restraint I limited myself to a burger without chips but decided I would try just one tiny square of pizza too. There were two types available so I relented and had both. Looking around me I noted the typical physique of my fellow diners and it did ring alarm bells.

Justin Timberlake again belted out "You got sunshine in your pockets" at 4.00pm on the dot and some of the diners got up to watch the animation team and their followers performing a choreographed dance routine at the poolside . Other diners ignored them and carried on troughing.

We were on holiday but guilt had already caught up with me. We had another evening of food and drink ahead of us so I suggested to Claire we went for a walk together in preparation.

I took her the same headland route I had walked that morning to show her the butterflies.

We reached the part overlooking the naked male sunbathers.

Don't look Ethel!

It was too late, she'd already got an eyeful!

T.B.C.

 

Another day ahead, same procedure as yesterday.

Breakfast

Conditioning with Justin at 10.00am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru0K8uYEZWw

(If you haven't heard it give it a go!)

Then, leaving Claire on her sun bed I head off in the opposite direction heading up Main Street Sinemoretz. 

It's exactly as expected, a few restaurants, bars and shops but delightfully quiet and uncommercial as it's largely a residential area.

not exactly a nightclubber's dream location then! 

Beyond the village there is another glorious sandy beach which is currently undeveloped but it looks like things are about to change with a couple of wooden buildings being erected.

I hope they limit it to just a couple of beach bars as it's a lovely spot at the mouth of the Veleka river .

Just behind the beach a pond and reed bed look potentially interesting. There are even two bird hides one which you can just see in the photograph.

On the pond I find a sunbathing European Pond Turtle

In the dried out bed behind the reeds a Little Ringed Plover

and in the reed bed over by the river, a Great Reed Warbler.

A pair of Red-backed Shrike were hunting this area too.

Things were looking up on the avian front.

It was Sunday but still not particularly busy on the beach, still I headed away following a track alongside the river passing a few anglers along the way. There was much bird song but the dense foiliage  was once again giving me problems seeing things. Eventually though I arrived at a more open area on the edge of some farmland.

Brilliant, all on one tree a Nuthatch

and only my second ever confirmed sighting of Middle Spotted Woodpecker.

A feeding flock of small brown warblers was moving through the bushes and I'm guessing they were all Willow Warblers.

Returning towards the beach I heard a weird unrecognisable call and further investigation revealed this bird high up in deep shade but open branches.

I have since asked the question as to what species and some people have been good enough to reply that it's a Nightingale and the call is actually it's alarm call.

I had hoped it might be a Savi's or a Marsh Warbler, neither of which i have seen as yet but hey, Nightingales are something I have seen little of in the past.

The day was certainly giving more than I'd had previously and there was more to come.

On the steps of the bird hide a Lizard.

A European Green Lizard I think.

Arriving back at the beach car park a man was stood stark naked whilst his wife rubbed suncream on his back. Some people have no shame! Mind you his modesty was saved by a huge pot belly. Not a pretty sight and one I was hardly likely to want to photograph so he had no need to worry and neither did I despite having the big lens.

There was still more to come on the track over the headland.

A displaying male House Sparrow failing in trying to distract a hungry female.

and this I think is an Edible Frog.

I hadn't totally forgotten about the butterflies though but they had retreated in to reserve targets!

 

All in all an excellent day. I returned for afternoon tea and this time restricted myself to two small slices of pizza and a piece of melon.

The forecast for the next two days wasn't very good so I had a hire car booked from the hotel which at 24 euros a day represented pretty good value I thought.

Another evening stroll with Claire then beers, dinner and G&T's.

A pattern definitely had set in!

T.B.C.

For once the weather forecast proved accurate. Well not quite accurate but they had the right idea. The rain had other thoughts and it was 10 times heavier than expected. We watched the downpour from the bedroom balcony and it reminded me of when our home town got flooded twenty or so years ago it was that heavy. To make matters worse it was announced on the news that North Wales and the whole of the UK was in the middle of a heat wave.

Typical!

At least we'd reserved the car so off we went after breakfast ( what no music? no conditioning today? As it happened the animation team get a day off it seems. They'd be cursing their luck too!)

First we headed south to the Turkish border which is only a few kilometres away and on passing through a two man checkpoint they appeared surprised to see anyone the rain was coming down that heavily. They waved us through and we continued on to the border village of Rezevo where the road comes to an end. Apparently there is a wildlife park in the vicinity but a) I had left my gear at the hotel deliberately as this was a trip for Claire as well as me and there was a sign up saying no photography.

We sat for 20 minutes looking at the biggest flag I have ever seen whilst the rain eased off. Of course this shot wasn't taken by me using my pocket camera, it's one I found on the internet.

Honest.

Heading back north were waved through the checkpoint without the two smiling guards bothering to come out of the sentry hut and who would blame them. It was raining again and our car was too small to put anyone in the boot.

We decided to head to Tsarevo further up the coast from Sinemoretz. It proved to be a decent sized town but a quick look was enough to convince us to continue on to Sozopol which is an old seaside town and tourist magnet. Very quaint it is too. 

We ignored the first huge parking area which appeared to be extremely busy, particularly with coaches off loading tour groups heading up the cobbled streets in to town. Instead we continued along the waterfront. At the end there was a circular turning area to head back again but there was also a small street heading up the hill. A policewoman on duty made no attempt to stop us so we headed up that direction.

Mistake!

Although there were other vehicles parked we were the only one moving and we were soon driving through narrow cobbled streets that were full of pedestrians.

We edged our way through the masses and after passing through the main square we thought we had found a way out of the place only to find that pillars in the road prevented traffic entering... and worse still, us getting out!

I had to return through the masses and back in to the square only to find to my horror the road we had entered town on was a one way street . Well it had to be I suppose it was very narrow. We took one of two alternatives and despite all the people, prams, pushchairs and other obstacles, got splendid views of all the old buildings and famous wooden houses. It must have taken 15 minutes driving various streets when Claire announced we were actually heading back down to the square on the street we had entered on.

People dining in the pavement cafes were giving us that look which suggests all isn't quite what's expected.

i.e Who are these idiots?!

We were even more embarrassed now but after another 10 minutes we found a car that was reversing before taking a left turn.

Instinct told me to "follow that car" and it proved right. Taking turns we would never have found we followed him out of the old town breathing a sigh of relief having done so.

We never did set foot in the place though nor take a single photo which was a shame.

Instead we headed back home as the weather had improved and the sun was out again.

More food, more drinks, more sleep and it was day two of the hire car.

I wanted to check out the countryside heading in to the mountains  hoping to show Claire some similar beautiful scenes to ones I had witnessed on previous visits .

It was incredibly hot now and the road was flanked by deep forest with little to see other than trees. We abandoned the idea and headed back to the hotel returning the car at lunchtime.

The manager told me had he known I was a birdwatcher he could have told me where to go. Burgas!

I know all about Burgas and the possibilities  having been there and I also explained that, at 90kms, it was too far away to enjoy the best light of the day. Besides, Claire would not have been amused to find herself watching me taking endless photos!

Instead I took another walk along the back of the beach to see what was lurking!

The wind was quite strong so the sea was choppy but it was also looking quite muddy as a result of the rains the day before.

The sun however was beaming down once more.

One butterfly I always recognise was enjoying it too.

The pools in the track had grown substantially and in places difficult to get past due to the way the track cut through the undergrowth but onwards I went. I had hardly taken a photo in 48 hours so I had withdrawal symptoms.

I'd settle for anything again.

you name it

Flowers, Bees,unknown Damselfly like creatures.

There was certainly lots of insect life around as there usually is when it's been raining.

There were  Grasshoppers everywhere providing a feast for the birds.

and this Shrike had had it's attention drawn elsewhere enabling me to get a bit closer than my previous visit here.

The birds I was really after though were the Golden Orioles I had seen flitting around distant tree tops  when I had been here before. After some searching I located a tree that held at least two pairs but they insisted on staying way up high.

My best effort of the male.

The female possibly slightly better but neither will win a competition. By now the insects had turned the tables and i was the victim. I was being attacked by mosquitos so I abandoned what I perceived to be a fairly hopeless mission.

Orioles have a reputation for being difficult to photograph so with hindsight this one I got on my visit in 2015 wasn't as disappointing as I thought at the time!

Hey, the birding was secondary really. It was a sunshine break for Claire that mattered.

With the weather much warmer than it had been on previous evenings we ventured out to sit by the pool for drinks both before and after dinner. Sadly in a smoke filled atmosphere on the outside dining area eating was confined to indoors.

That however put me closer to the buffet area and temptation.

A huge range of salad, cooked meats and cheese to start, pasta , pizza and burgers for the kids and 3 or 4 hot dishes to choose from for mains.

Then there were the sweets. Those delicious filo pasty and honey delicacies, cream cakes, ice cream.

It was all too much to resist.

The only thing that helped me restrain myself was looking around at some of the people loading their plates.

There were more Hippo's in here than you'd ever see on safari. 

Claire assured me I had a long way to go to catch up.... so I continued eating everything that took my fancy promising a diet when I got home.

TBC

 

 

[Dave Williams]

With the poor weather seemingly behind us and with little point in hiring a car to venture anywhere nearby I had no other choices but to venture out on foot  everyday.

A simple choice of two directions.

Today it was over the headland and back in to the woods to see what I might find. 

Much the same as before but another attempt to better the photos.

You can actually see the six spots on this one.

It's amazing how much time you can spend on one Grasshopper, especially when there are blades of grass getting in the way.

Some careful gardening required although not when your subjects (Carinal Butterfly?) land on a tall thistle.

I  decided there wasn't much to be found in the woods, I'd walked for a couple of miles and heard the odd sound but nothing was clearly seen. I turned around to head back to the hotel only stopping when I saw this Southern Skimmer Dragonfly buzzing across two large puddles in the track.

With nothing else to photograph I waited a while to try and get something on this one but while doing so I heard a rustle in the dead leaf cover. 

Only this was different.

Walking along the track you are taken aback when a lizard darts for cover making a noise as it goes. I have too admit to jumping to one side on a couple of occasions, a natural reaction for me. I have seen Horned Viper in Bulgaria, Europe's most venomous snake.

This sound was the result of a slower, more deliberate movement.

My eyes suddenly caught on to what was making the noise.

It was too close for comfort as I hadn't a clue what I was looking at!

Backing off to a distance of 6 or 7 metres I watched as it headed my way.

Very slowly.

I think it was tired! But at least I could see it didn't have any fangs.

Onwards it came.

I was surprised it didn't seem to detect me despite my movement and proximity. It did however change direction after a while.

I spent ages just following it through the leaf litter as it searched from tree trunk to tree trunk

I was confident that we were both unafraid of each other but neither knew for certain if the other was a potential threat.

Getting a photo wasn't easy as the shade was dark and the dappled sunlight very bright. 

And with hindsight I wish I had had a smaller lens to try and get the whole of it's 70+cm length in the one shot.

I was barely distracted when a Nuthatch landed right next to me.

Eventually though I left the "snake" in peace to carry on it's journey through the woods.

I'd had an hours entertainment following the creature though and it was one of the highlights of the trip, if not the highlight.

Returning to the hotel I retreated to our room to try and "Google" an identity.

I came up with Javelin Sand Boa but my learned friend who lives in Bulgaria put me right when I posted a shot on the internet.

It's a Sheltopusik, also known as a Legless or Palas' Glass Lizard.

It had made my day whatever it was!

TBC

 

Over the next few days I must have wandered miles over the beaches and headlands and on deep in to the woods but my birding experiences were somewhat limited.

The hotel  we were staying in was home to hundreds of House Martins and despite the room cleaners attempts to destroy their nests whenever one was started on a room balcony the birds just began building all over again.

The recent rains had supplied a good supply of mud so the nests were going up as fast as they were coming down. I was one of the few that didn't have a pair on my balcony but with the neighbours we had for half our stay it's not surprising.

If one of them wasn't sleeping on the balcony after another drunken row.

They were both out there chain smoking and being generally disgusting.

That was the only complaint I had about our hotel.

Smoking.

The downstairs areas for outdoor eating, the pool bars and all the sunbed areas were full of smokers. It seems that Bulgarians are still addicted to the deadly weed but I , as a born again non smoker, am passionately anti smoking. Here in the UK only one in six adults still smoke and laws about smoking in public places are very strictly observed. 

Not so in Bulgaria.

All the indoor spaces in the hotel are non smoking but the hotel balcony is classed as outdoors by the management, they even provide ashtrays. In the UK a balcony with a roof over the top would be a no smoking area. 

One of the great joys for us northern folk is being able to eat in the great outdoors, again not pleasant when there is smoke wafting around everywhere.

Anyway, I had the woods and most paths largely to myself and that was worth the rest of it.

Remember that little beach I posted a picture of?

During the week it was deserted and I had a wander down there to see if there was anything around.

To my surprise on the patch of gravel at the far end I found a Little Ringed Plover sat on it's nest.

The give away was that the bird tried to draw me away from the nest otherwise I probably wouldn't have noticed as their camouflage is so good.

Checking the nest area I discovered just the one egg.

and after withdrawing to a safe distance I watched as the bird returned to sit on the nest once more.

Although most of the time I was seeing few species of birds I did find one or two new species for the trip as I went along.

Nothing spectacular

Pied Wagtails and Starlings are common at home.

Hooded Crows will cause a stir in North Wales.

and Common Whitethroat although not a rarity are only around in the summer months.

Without a doubt though the biggest thrill was seeing a Cirl Bunting albeit very briefly.

I'd only ever seen one once before. Mind you the Middle-spotted Woodpecker was a close second but they remained difficult to photograph.

The locally common species at least gave me a chance to do better.

Until I had something I was reasonably satisfied with.

but once again, I turned to insects to pass the time of day.

Some of them quite spectacular.

Really beautiful in fact.

Some are plain

Some are colourful

Some are pretty

Some are fascinating to look at

but the more you look the more you discover.

It's a violent world and there is horror unfolding all around us.

The unsuspecting butterfly pounced on by a spider and what was happening with the ants I couldn't be sure.

The biggest one was being attacked by the other two and it appeared to have lost the fight too.

You are tempted it intervene but there is little point and it is after all the way of nature.

After the Legless Lizard my favourite find of the week was this tortoise which I stumbled across on a footpath.

I had to back off to get a photograph but my 500mm lens with a converter on was too much and by the time I had taken the converter off Mr Speedy was off.

He disappeared in to the thick undergrowth so I didn't get a decent shot after all. What a shame as the shell was stunning.

By now I was down to just one last day to look forward to. Claire and I had taken to wandering down to the beach for a little evening walk before having a beer or two in the most distant and quietest beach bar. 

It was on this second to last evening we discovered a Black Stork perched on a distant tree. One of the week's best birds and I didn't have my camera.

Would it be there again tomorrow? I doubted it but I would take a look anyway.

TBC

 

One last time, one last search in the hope of coming up with something interesting. Strangely the last day of a holiday usually does do just that for me so hopefully the same would apply today.

There was only one choice of direction really, I'd tried walking up the river route a couple of days before to find it impassable unless you had a pair of wellies or were prepared to take tour boots off. Instead I had stuck to the high ground of the woods in the opposite direction. A shame but such is life, who knows what I might have discovered heading that way.

It was down to butterflies again!

It being Sunday though the beaches were a lot busier, even the small cove where the little Ringed Plover was nesting had a few people on it and to my dismay there was a family very close to where the nest was. One person was actually doing some beach combing within a few metres of the nest prodding and probing the shingle with a big stick, probably looking for shells.

I decided to take action!

Heading down to the beach and over to the lady with the stick who, I discovered, didn't speak English so I tried to put the message across doing my best chicken laying an egg impression. She looked bemused and nodded agreement.

My message had failed to get through and if anything I was likely to be taken away to the funny farm if she decided to phone for help!

There was only one thing to do, find the nest and show her. Without the bird being there to show me it took sometime to find it but when I did I noticed there were now 3 eggs.

That was good news, and hopefully now I could show the lady she would stay well clear and instruct everyone else to do so too.

Other than my good deed for the day and a few more butterflies there wasn't much to report. A check on the Black Stork tree revealed it had left it's roosting spot which was to be expected many hours after the first sighting.

I returned to the hotel and to Claire up on the roof terrace. She told me there was a Sparrow nesting in the gutter which had been landing with materials all morning.

I was delighted to find it was a Spanish Sparrow and not the usual House Sparrow.

My attempts to capture Swallows in flight were pretty poor.

even worse than my efforts with the House Martins

I gave up!

Retreating to the shade of our room it was a few hours later I ventured out for one last look.

I was delighted to find that both of the Little Ringed Plovers were back on the beach now everyone had gone home. I'd have loved to monitor their progress further but hopefully it has had a happy ending. 

The Black Sea was once again looking very inviting now the sea had settled down again.

but I headed inland to the Stork roost.

It wasn't there but I could make out the outline of a European Roller, my first of the trip.

In trying to get on the right side of it to take advantage of the light I discovered something better!

Another tortoise and this time out in the open too, crossing a wide track.

As you can see it has a tick attached too.

Full of the tortoise's blood it will soon drop off though.

Horrible things!

By now the Roller had flown but there was one last interesting sight to witness.

A Shrike impaling it's Grasshopper victim on a thorn.

not so much to store it in a larder but to help it eat it's victim with greater ease than holding it.

bit by bit it ate the lot!

So that was it. Another trip almost over. 

One last beer in our favourite beach bar while watching someone struggle to launch their kite.

It was easier photographing that than birds though, especially in the beautiful magic hour light.

So, a return to the hotel, a last dinner and then home first thing in the morning with a pick up at 8.40am. Perfect, it's awful hanging around all day when you are packed and ready for the off.

Another trip over!

 

[Dave Williams]

 

Postscript

 

When you have the time to allow you to do so, it's amazing what late deals can be found but even at full price this particular holiday is excellent value.

The Bella Vista Beach Club wouldn't be my first choice venue as the day time activities are loud with a bit of a holiday camp atmosphere and the smoking I find hard to put up with.

As an aside I have written to Tui suggesting that they have the weight to try and encourage hotels to provide non smoking areas outdoors as well as indoors. As an individual you will get nowhere if you object to the hotel management but surely I can't be alone, maybe if everyone who objects wrote in we might get somewhere. It's not exactly difficult to implement after all. Anyway, I await a reply to my letter with interest.

The one unexpected factor we encountered were the number of children staying at the hotel too as we hadn't realised the school holidays start a lot earlier in Europe. The downside of the all inclusive set up is that parents allowed their children to help themselves from drink machines and ice cream tubs. The staff must be as frustrated as anyone at the mess they make. Personally for me it was the fact that some were licking the spoon before leaving it back in the ice cream.

That's my Mr Grumpy moment over so now back to the positives.

The surrounding countryside made escape from the crowds so very easy. I think a month earlier and the birdlife might be easier seen as well but the weather of course might be less settled. I'm not sure when the package tours start but you can of course fly to Sofia all the year round but it's a long drive to the coast which will take most of a day. Flying direct to Burgas with a charter flight is a great alternative.

Staying nearer to Burgas you do have the large expanse of wetlands on your doorstep and with a hire car could explore both north and south.

For me though no visit to Bulgaria can be complete without a visit to Trigrad Gorge and the magical Wallcreeper and that is certainly out of season for the Burgas flights as well as being some distance away.

Anyway, my blog pages about earlier trips will help you decide if Bulgaria is for you. 

I don't think you'd be disappointed though.

Dave

[xyz99]

I really enjoyed the story and the pictures...maybe because that's my style too: primarily birds, but butterflies, dragonflies or anything else that moves, flies, swims, slithers, hops....will do. 

That's where the similarities between us end though. Your skills area waaay better than mine, as is your gear. Now I'll go check your other posts and photos  

[Treepol]

@Dave Williamsthanks for this interesting and entertaining read - never read a TR from Bulgaria before! Excellent choice of a holiday in the sun, with wildlife an added extra.

[Dave Williams]

@Treepol, @xyz99 Thanks for taking the time to comment both, appreciated. 

Sorry if my pasting from the blog resulted in a Deja Vu moment too!

[TonyQ]

@Dave Williams

Thank you for posting this. Very interesting with great photos. It is true that the more you look at things (the insects) the more interesting they become.

[Peter Connan]

Great report with some stunning photos, as usual!

 

The dragonfly in flight is particularly impressive (I know how tough this is, having tried it myself a few times) and I have no idea what you are complaining about regarding the Swallows and Martins in flight on the last day!

[michael-ibk]

Agree with Peter - great shots overall. Very nice report, good to read about Bulgaria, not an area I really know anything about.