Birding Trip Report – Driving to Romania from the UK. 23.07.05-12.08.05

Background for the trip

This trip report describes the whole holiday with my non-birding partner, driving from the UK to Romania and back, but focuses especially on the 6-day birding trip taken with Hobby Tours of Romania (www.hobbytours.ro) into the Danube Delta and Carpathian Mountains. The trip was undertaken in order to visit friends in Romania who run an ornithological charity called Milvus (www.milvus.ro). This fantastic charity works hard for the birds of Romania running many successful projects surveying and protecting the birds to be found there. Some of the Milvus members put me in touch with their friends at Hobby Tours. They organised a 6-day tour for me based on a list of species I was interested in seeing. Hobby Tours donates 20 Euros to Milvus for every participating tourist and I would urge any birders considering a trip to Romania to contact them. They do not only run pre-designed tours but can also work around a list of ‘most-wanted’ birds, as they did for me.

While in Romania, we used a variety of accommodation; camping (tent), hotel, fully-catered chalet (in The Delta) and with friends.

Itinerary

23^rd July	Drove from Portland to the Channel Tunnel, into France, Belgium and camped on the outskirts of Gent.
24^th July	Drove from Gent, through Belgium, Germany (just clipping The Netherlands), to camp near the German-Austrian border close to Passau.
25^th July	Drove through Austria and Hungary into Romania to camp near Ciucea.
26^th July	Drove to Târgu Mureş to stay with friends.
27^th July	Day trip to Sighişoara
28^th July	Visited Dumbrovioara (Stork village) and Târgu Mureş before driving to Odorheiu Secuiesc to meet our Hobby Tours guide. Set off towards the Danube Delta.
29^th July	Some birding in the Dobruja region before joining our ferry at Tulcea which took us to Sfântu Gheorghe on the Black Sea coast.
30^th July	Danube Delta boat trip
31^st July	Danube Delta by foot
1^st August	Boat to Murighiol and Maxi Taxi to Tulcea. Drove into Macin Hills and camped.
2^nd August	Morning around Histria then drove to Hotel in Curtea de Arges in the Făgăraş Mountains
3^rd August	Drive through mountains to Odorheiu Secuiesc. Left our guide and drove to Bran. Slept in the car.
4^th August	Bran Castle then leisurely drive back to Târgu Mureş.
5^th August	Day trip to Sovata
6^th August	Sight-seeing around Târgu Mureş
7^th August	Drove from Târgu Mureş, out of Romania, through Hungary to Austria to camp near Loosdorf.
8^th August	To Salzburg, sightseeing. Camped on outskirts of city.
9^th August	Visited Hitler’s ‘Eagle’s Nest’, drove into Switzerland and camped at Landquart.
10^th August	Leisurely drive via Oberalpen Pass through Swiss Alps and into France to camp near Dijon.
11^th August	Drove to L’Aigle in Normandy to stay with Friends.
12^th August	To Calais, Channel Tunnel and home.

Details for each day with birds of note.

23^rd-25^th July – Driving.

Driving on motorways was fast and easy, but you see nothing of the countries you’re passing through. Birds of note all the way through to the Hungarian border were just red kite somewhere over Germany, 5 hawfinches at our campsite on the German-Austrian border and crested lark in a motorway service station in Austria. Immediately on crossing into Hungary, birds became more obvious with red-backed shrikes being especially frequent, but also white storks and marsh harriers beside the road. The motorway stopped after Budapest and the driving was much slower. Birds included the three mentioned above as well as the odd lesser grey shrike and about 8 red-footed falcons.

26^th July – Târgu Mureş.

Drove from our camp site on the edge of Romania near to Hungary to Târgu Mureş. There were many white storks attending to harvested fields and a few red-footed falcons close to the road not far from Târgu Mureş. In Târgu Mureş itself, we met up with our host and friend, Zoltan. He had couple of hours before he finished work and so we killed some time in the city centre. Birds here included a hobby circling over and a hawfinch in a shrubby flowerbed! Why is this species so much easier to see everywhere other than the UK? Around the citadel were a couple of serin, a family of black redstarts and a great spotted woodpecker as well as flocks of tree sparrows along with the house sparrows.

We drove to Zoltan’s village (Curteni) on the outskirts of the city and managed to see a juvenile Syrian woodpecker in the apple trees in the garden as we were settling ourselves in.

27^th July – Around Curteni and to Sighişoara

Before breakfast I walked down to the river Mureş and up onto the hill above the village. The landscape was of gentle hills, hedges and small-scale agriculture consisting of small, family-owned patches of different crops scattered amongst larger patches of wheat and maize. Down towards the river, every bush seemed to contain a marsh warbler, there were two whinchats, a little owl, large flocks of tree sparrows, one female red-backed shrike, 4 common buzzards and golden orioles singing beyond the village. The walk uphill produced singing quail (heard but not seen), a white stork which sailed in to follow a harvester, more marsh warblers, a very distant lesser grey shrike, yellowhammers, raven, lesser whitethroats and over 20 red-backed shrike. Many of these were pairs feeding noisy juveniles.

In the afternoon we drove to Sighişoara to see this ‘Dracula’ village. It was very picturesque and not full of tacky references to its one-time inhabitant (missed marketing opportunity there!). The drive between Târgu Mureş and Sighişoara should have been good for lesser-spotted eagle but we were rather late in the day and didn’t see any. There were common buzzards, white storks nesting in just about every other village and the ubiquitous red-backed shrikes. Over Sighişoara itself we saw a circling goshawk and in the cemetery on the hill there was another juvenile Syrian woodpecker which gave excellent views. It did have rather more white in the tail than I would have expected and I wondered if it might be a hybrid with great spotted woodpecker.

28^th July – Dumbravioara, Târgu Mureş, Odorheiu Secuiesc

In the morning we met Zoltan in Dumbravioara, a small village on the road to Reghin about twenty minutes outside of Târgu Mureş which has become known as ‘The Stork Village’. This is the site of one of Milvus’ flagship projects which is succeeding in uniting birds and people and in giving birds a higher profile in the region. White storks nest widely across Romania and many villages have a storks nest somewhere. In Dumbravioara there are fourteen active stork nests! Storks traditionally attempted to nest on thatched roofs in the village but their nests were almost invariably destroyed by the local people (the birds cause damage to the thatch). Milvus have worked with the national electricity companies to produce a nest support which can be fitted to standard electricity poles. To date, more than 1000 have been produced and Milvus is attempting to get these used nationwide, not just in Transylvania. We saw several being used around Transylvania as well as the fourteen in this one small village. An important part of the work of Milvus has been to include local communities and in Dumbavioara there is now a stork festival to celebrate the storks’ return in the spring, a stork drawing competition for local children and a small museum of agricultural and village life where live pictures of one of the nests can be viewed. It was a great privilege to visit this success story… and we had some fantastic views of the storks.

After leaving Dumbravioara we stopped off in Târgu Mureş where I spent an hour exploring the woods around the medical school. To access this site when approaching from the north (on the road from Reghin) turn left after the first block of flats when entering the city. This road climbs a hill taking you past the hospital (orange high-rise building) to the university buildings. Enter on foot through the wrought-iron gates and explore the paths through the forest behind the buildings. Take insect repellent – the mosquitoes were fierce here! On my walk around I saw 5 great spotted woodpeckers, 2 Syrian woodpeckers, 1 green woodpecker, coal tit, lots of nuthatches, serin, 4 common buzzard and 1 honey buzzard, chiffchaff and willow warbler. A trip in spring would be likely to reveal other passerines of note.

That afternoon, we packed the things we needed for our trip with Hobby Tours and drove the two hours to Odorheiu Secuiesc to meet our guide, Imre. Imre’s wife made us a fantastic meal and then we headed off toward the Danube Delta in Imre’s car. This trip was organised by Imre and Hobby Tours in response to my ‘would like to see’ list. Because of the time of year, we decided that woodland birds and owls were going to be tricky and so in the short time we had available to us we would concentrate on the delta and the mountains. Imre was very likeable, with excellent English and throughout the trip worked very hard to get me the birds I was looking for. To get to The Delta, Imre drove through the night to Tulcea to catch the ferry to our base in The Delta.

29^th July – Dobruja and the Danube Delta.

We arrived at Braila to cross the Danube at dawn. The route to the vehicle ferry was not signposted from the town and we had to stop several times to get directions. I was glad Imre was there as very few people were able to speak English. There was a little owl calling as we waited for the ferry, and as we crossed the Danube we saw and heard through the misty gloom 5 night herons flying down the river to their daytime roosts. We continued the rest of the journey in the growing light. Rollers, bee-eaters and turtle doves were frequently seen on roadside wires. We stopped at a marshy area where sand martins were nesting in an exposed bank to see the incredible sight of around 80 whiskered terns and 2 black terns wheeling over the reeds and 5 squacco herons sitting on wooden rails around pig pens on the edge of the marsh. Also, teetering on the edge of the water was a common sandpiper.

The next stop along the road to Tulcea was on a dry hillside with scattered trees. By walking up the hill through the trees and pasture we managed to locate 2 Syrian woodpeckers, 2 sombre tits, 2 woodlark, 3 roller, around 40 bee-eaters calling and wheeling around our heads and giving excellent views as they perched on low trees. About 6 ortolan eventually gave themselves up – all streaky youngsters, six golden orioles flew about and called, more red-backed shrikes perched on wires and a Eurasian sparrowhawk soared about allowing us to check that it was not a Levant. Further along the road, we stopped to get excellent views of a pair of lesser grey shrikes in a sunflower field and two wheatears proved to be northern wheatears.

The change in the avifauna from further north and west in Romania was quite dramatic – it was like being in a different country!

In Tulcea, while we waited for the ferry, we were able to shop in the local market to get water and food for our journey. By now the heat was quite intense, the region was experiencing something of a heat wave and so we sought shade while we waited. While doing so we saw a lesser black-backed gull – not a common bird here. Again, the place to board the ferry was not obvious, but Imre knew where to go, how to get tickets and which boat to board. As we were about to board, a marsh harrier and about 20 white pelicans soared over.

The passenger ferry was to take us to Sfântu Gheorghe. This is a delta village built in the dunes at the very end of the southernmost arm of the Danube (called Braţul Sfântu Gheorghe) where it enters the Black Sea. The village is only accessible by boat and this public ferry, which runs daily, would get us there in around three and a half hours. We had a very fortunate trip, and with mine and Imre’s eyes scanning the banks and the sky, we managed to see almost all of The Delta specialities in this one trip (although some only fleetingly or distantly).

For the first hour and a half, there was a new flock of bee-eaters every 5-10 minutes, each flock being between 10- and 50-strong. How many hundreds must we have seen in total? Similarly, rollers sat as singles or pairs on bank-side trees every ten minutes or so. Red-footed falcons were seen frequently in small groups and hobbies sat as singles or pairs like the rollers – sometimes in the same trees as them! A handful of marsh harriers floated about too and the terns that passed us were mostly common and whiskered terns, but we did see two white-winged black terns. The gulls we saw were yellow-legged and black headed gulls with a scattering of Mediterranean gulls.

We saw two small groups of pelicans soaring up over the Danube as we passed and quite incredibly, both groups contained Dalmatian pelicans. The first group was of 1 Dalmatian and 6 white pelicans, the second was of 1 Dalmatian and 3 white pelicans.

We managed to see all but one of The Delta’s species of herons; little egrets were probably the commonest. Grey and purple herons and great egrets were frequently seen, too. Squacco herons tended to be seen feeding or sitting in trees in small groups at first, but as the afternoon wore on they were seen flapping to and fro above our heads in the company of the odd night heron. We only saw one little bittern, but the views were excellent. It was an immaculate male and flew out from the bank ahead of the boat and then back into the trees. As we drew past, it could be seen perched on a tree-root in classic head-down fishing pose. The one we missed was, not surprisingly, bittern. More of a surprise is that there are no cattle egrets in The Delta!

On ponds amongst the reeds and trees we passed were a few pygmy cormorants sitting on snags or fishing. Also on these ponds were glossy ibis, perhaps around 30 in total. Then between about 4 and 5pm pygmy cormorants started to move about in all directions overhead. They were generally in ones and twos, but sometimes up to 20. We must have seen well over 100 in total.

We reached Sfântu Gheorghe elated at having seen so much and were greeted at the slipway by Mr Gogu, our host and boatman for our stay in The Delta. I had been told that we would be housed and catered-for by this birder in The Delta and my previous experience of such people had led me to expect extremely basic accommodation and bread and cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner. How wrong could I be? A beautiful, reed-thatched annex to his house awaited us and the food was prepared by a housekeeper to a very high standard. Mr Gogu welcomed us with wine and we sat on the terrace outside drinking it while waiting for our evening meal. All the while, common terns went to and fro over our heads carrying food back to chicks, red-footed falcons swept low over the buildings and the tree frogs began to chirrup. As darkness fell, around 20 very cute green toads emerged from heaven knows where and started snapping up mosquitoes.

A word about mosquitoes: I was expecting these to be a real, day-long pain in The Delta. They were there and they weren’t exactly pleasant, but they weren’t the total misery I was expecting. They did not tend to bother us during the day at all. They only appeared in the evening as darkness fell (around 9-9:30), but were then in large numbers. However, after about 30 minutes (if that) they almost totally disappeared again. Our evening routine was to apply insect repellent at around 8:45 and to put on trousers, too. You would still get the odd bite… but very few.

30^th July – Boat trip in The Delta.

The weather was extremely hot (touching 33-35^oC) and we had spent much of the previous day trying to find shade wherever we were. Out in The Delta there would be no shade and so we decided to take our boat trip early in the day and return to spend the middle of the day in the shade of our accommodation, venturing out again in the late afternoon.

At 5:00 we were off towards Mr Gogu’s small boat, buying water on the way. Mr Gogu took us out of Sfântu Gheorghe, across the main channel and into the reeds on the other side. We then went up a narrow reed-fringed canal, birding all the way, until it came to a halt in the low sand dunes on the Black Sea coast. The canal was covered in water lilies and other floating vegetation and as the boat cleaved its path through these, hundreds of lime-green frogs sprang off to either side. Along this channel we saw around 15 purple herons, the odd grey heron and perhaps 20 little bitterns. Many of these would fly up from beside the boat and disappear into the reads. A significant minority, however, would just move up into the canal-side vegetation and watch us from incredibly close range as we passed giving outstanding views – quite magical! Hobbies seemed to be perched on almost every bush in ones and twos and kingfishers were flying ahead of the boat at all times. This might seem like an exaggeration, but really, a pair would fly ahead, stopping occasionally on a reed-stem. Then, presumably at the end of their territory, they would disappear into the reads only to be replaced by the next pair. It was very rare for there not to be kingfishers visible ahead.

As the boat pulled up onto the sand at the end of the canal, a female grey-headed woodpecker gave extremely good views on a dead branch for several minutes – enough to get the scope on it and see the delicate dark streaks on its grey crown and its pale eye. It was joined briefly by a male before they disappeared together into the marsh.

On the Black Sea itself, a lone white pelican sailed by in the mist quite close to us. Further down the beach we could see other birds so moved a little closer and set up the scope. Birds here included an incredible 5 Dalmatian pelicans as well as a further 4 white pelicans. Also here were 6 common sandpipers, many redshank, 2 spotted redshank, common and whiskered terns. Interestingly, the large gulls here appeared to be mostly cachinnans Caspian gulls, not the michahellis western yellow-legged that we had seen elsewhere. The waves here were grey with millions of tiny shrimps. Just scooping a handful of water would get you several hundred. No wonder there are so many birds here!

In the reeds there were a couple of reed buntings while 2 night herons and 3 spoonbills flew overhead. Then we were back to the boat after stopping to look at a couple of alarmingly large leaches which seemed to be awaiting our return! We headed back down the channel seeing more of the same species we had seen coming up – wow! Overhead, a small flock of 15-20 penduline tits zipped by. I didn’t even know they occurred in flocks of more than two!

We then joined another larger channel and passed a squacco heron colony which was now not very busy being so late in the year. Despite this, there were still several birds present sitting in the trees along with several little egrets. We continued to the edge of a large lake and pulled the boat up onto the bank. Birds streamed constantly overhead making their way to and from the Black Sea. These included 3gull-billed, 7 Caspian, 2 black and 6 Sandwich terns amongst the many tens of whiskered and common terns. Also passing were around 50 little gulls in a range of plumages, 4 curlew sandpipers and a surprise in the form of a knot. This last species is not a common bird here.

Out on the lake were several mute swans feeling much more wild here than those back home. There were also lots of little and about 20 great egrets, about 15 black-winged stilts and half a dozen or so glossy ibis. We walked across the low dune/saltmarsh vegetation to reach the sea and walked down to view the birds on the beach and the marsh behind. An Arctic skua flew out to sea and on the beach and flying overhead there were about 50 redshank, 10 spotted redshank, 40 black-tailed godwit, 3 greenshank, 1 marsh sandpiper, 1 green sandpiper and about 20 ruff. Many of the ruff were moulting males in all shades and combinations of black, white, brown and ginger. The most common duck was garganey, then teal. We also saw one fly-by ferruginous duck. At the top of the beach were a number of immature and winter-plumaged yellow wagtails. They had quite a grey-and-white feel and here 2 of them had reduced supercilia and were darker-headed with generally darker upperparts also. These were presumably ‘black-headed wagtail’, although the other 4 or 5 on the beach did not appear so striking, having more obvious supercilia and a greyer tone. Love to see them in spring, I bet there are a whole range of races.

Back in the boat and on the lake we were treated to 11 white pelicans which slowly floated by us and fished in horse-shoe formation. Further along there were around 60 hauled out on a bank along with a few common waders, several great and 1 pygmy cormorant. A lone spoonbill flew overhead.

The day was getting hot and we headed back to Sfântu Gheorghe finding yet another Dalmatian pelican in the main channel which allowed close approach before lumbering off the water away from us, turning and giving us an excellent fly-by view. We got back to Sfântu Gheorghe for a welcome ‘brunch’ and siesta.

In the late afternoon we walked to the beach via various pools and marshes and saw several yellow wagtail (again not appearing to be especially black-headed, but difficult in immature/winter plumage), wood sandpipers, ruff, 6 little ringed plover, purple, grey and squacco heron, little and great egret, glossy ibis, snipe and around 100 little gulls. Larger gulls here again appeared to be michahellis western yellow legged gulls. Imre also saw a collared pratincole, but I failed to get on it. Overhead, the red-footed falcons continued to wheel, perching from time to time on the power cables to allow a really close look. From the beach, out to sea, could be seen distantly flocks of hundreds of feeding terns and one Arctic skua. Even more distantly, there was a small pod of dolphins – probably bottle-nosed.

Back to our accommodation for our evening meal and more common terns flying in with their catch, more red-footed falcons and the odd night heron and glossy ibis.

31^st July – Walking in The Delta

Having done so well for our target species on the previous two days, we decided to walk the area around Sfântu Gheorghe to try to locate some of the smaller birds of The Delta. We left early and set off towards ‘The Colony’ – the tern colony behind the village where all those terns were commuting to in the evenings. The colony consisted mostly of common terns with many just or almost fledged chicks. There were also 2 gull-billed terns and a handful of whiskered terns. Picking their way amongst the terns were around 100 ruff, 20 wood sandpipers and a few green sandpipers. On a separate scrape were about 80 little gulls. Imre commented that it was unusual to see so many little gulls in The Delta.

We moved from the colony up onto a canal bank and began to walk along it looking for passerines in the reeds and bushes. Almost the first passerines we saw were three warblers moving through the reeds on the opposite bank. The scope revealed two of them to be sedge warblers. The third was more tricky, but I had my suspicions which were confirmed when the bird flew straight towards us and began preening in rushes just metres away; it was a rather washed-out adult paddyfield warbler. We watched it for a while and even took some photos before moving on. Squacco, grey and purple herons flew up from the reeds from time to time and a ferruginous duck flew by, but passerines were extremely secretive and it took a lot of effort to identify 2 lesser whitethroat, 1 icterine, 4 eastern olivaceous, 1 great reed and 1 reed warbler. It was getting hot by now and we tried to find shelter along the edge of the wood where, presumably, the red-footed falcons which were constantly overhead had their colony. Along the power lines we had excellent views of these as well as rollers and bee-eaters while white storks circled overhead.

Back to Mr Gogu’s for lunch where we were treated to a fly-over long-legged buzzard which soared straight over our heads. We retired to the pub in the afternoon and drank beer in the shade of the trees. It had been a very successful trip into The Delta – only white-tailed eagle had eluded us, but I’d always known that one would be tricky. This part of The Delta had a very special appeal – a glimpse of a unique way of life, yet another starkly different landscape in this country of contrasts and probably the furthest I had been from motorised road transport in my life!

1^st August - Back to Tulcea and into the Macin Hills.

We were due to leave early today on the ferry to Tulcea… but it had been cancelled the previous night without warning. Imre was angry because he had checked that it would be running when he had planned our trip. The temptation was to just stay another day – the food, the pub, the birds and the hospitality were just so good. However, if we were to get up into the mountains as we had planned, then we needed to leave today. Imre managed to organise a trip up-river with a local boatman (again, something we would have found very difficult to do without Imre) to the next town with road access – Murighiol. We left just as the sun was rising. It was quite a magical trip; the river seemed bigger in such a small boat and we had it all to ourselves before the majority of Delta boatmen had hit the water. The birds were good, too. Woodpeckers were especially obvious and we had good views of Syrian, great spotted, green and grey-headed woodpeckers. Glossy ibis, pygmy cormorants, herons and common and green sandpipers were seen and the rollers were especially stunning in the early morning light. The Danube Delta had not yet given up the last of its delights, however. As Imre and I were scrutinising a pied woodpecker to decide whether it was Syrian or great spotted, the boatman gave a shout and we looked around in time to see a magnificent adult white-tailed eagle with shining, immense yellow bill and gleaming white tail, glide down the side of the tiny boat making it feel even smaller! As it passed us, it swept back up into the trees, from where we had presumably disturbed it, and disappeared. We had perhaps just a ten second view, but what a view, as it swept past almost touching the water just a few metres away. I had seen everything I had hoped for in The Delta and more in just three days… but I can’t wait to go back. Can you imagine what it would be like in spring? Bitterns booming, noisy heronries in full swing and Acrocephalus and Savi’s warblers singing in huge numbers.

From Murighiol we managed to get a lift back to Tulcea in a minibus from one of the hotels. We found Imre’s car and bought some provisions for the day and set off for the Macin Hills. We stopped at a lake just outside Tulcea where we added great crested and black-necked grebes to our list along with more whiskered terns. Then we drove through dry, rolling hills towards Macin. The number and variety of raptors in this area is quite stunning. I think we were here at the right time – mid to late morning. The short drive took some time because we had to keep stopping to identify raptors! We saw 3 long-legged buzzards, 5 common buzzards, 3 booted eagles, 2 kestrels, 3 honey buzzards, 1 lesser spotted eagle, 2 ‘steppe’ buzzards and one adult female Levant sparrowhawk. Many of the birds gave excellent views – we could even see the Levant’s central throat streak as she soared above us!

Once in the Macin hills the raptors didn’t stop, either. We were looking for isabelline wheatear while a booted eagle and a ‘steppe’ buzzard soared above us. We disturbed two woodlarks and souslik whistled from the slopes above. Then, there they were, a pair of isabelline wheatears on the rocks above us. We then found another pair, the male trying to find some shade amongst the rocks. This was just in the Macin hills close to Macin itself. There was a lot of similar habitat in the general area and I am sure that this species must breed quite commonly in the area. While here we also saw 3 northern wheatears and a skylark.

After some lunch, we moved on to Pricopan Heights in the Muntii Macin itself. This is the site of another of Milvus’ key projects – the Muntii Macin raptor migration watchsite. From the middle of August until the end of October each year, Milvus volunteers count migrating raptors, storks and pelicans as they head south past this strategic point. In 2004 over 14 000 raptors were counted here (see www.milvus.ro/HTM/Monitoring.htm). As we arrived we disturbed a tawny pipit from the roadside and watched a short-toed eagle soaring up over the mountain. We climbed the mountain in Imre’s Dacia Logan car which surprised us by converting to four-wheeled drive and powering up a riverbed! The going was tough, but we kept going and stopped half-way up to admire the view and watch a few northern wheatears, meadow pipits and a common buzzard. We carried on and stopped the car at the place which would become, in a fortnight’s time, the Macin watchsite camp. It was situated in a saddle between two peaks with a scrubby valley leading down the other side. We explored this general area and saw a hawfinch and sombre tit in the scrubby valley. Further around the mountain, raptors were rising up on thermals and moving through. We saw 2 common buzzards, 1 long-legged buzzard and a marsh harrier but I think the two hunting short-toed eagles were probable summer residents here. Briefly, on top of a rock, we got our only view of a fine male pied wheatear beginning to moult into winter plumage before it dropped beyond the rock and couldn’t be relocated. Back at the campsite it was beginning to look like it might rain, so we quickly set up the tent. Thunder was rumbling in the valley, but fortunately it never reached us. A large falcon streaked through and disappeared around the mountain. We hoped it might be a saker, which does occur in this area but when it reappeared it revealed itself to be a peregrine. A short walk around the other side of the mountain gave us black redstart, ortolan and 3 rufous-tailed rock thrush already in winter plumage, but singing away nonetheless. As we walked back to the tent, small groups of tree pipits were moving through the valley.

2^nd August To Histria, Chituc and the Făgăraş Mountains

We set off early to drive to Histria. This is a popular destination with many foreign birders, but as we had seen most of the species this area has to offer, we decided not to stay long in order to have a full day in the mountains the following day. As we left the Muntii Macin we saw hoopoe, woodlark, water pipit and a wheatear which may have been another isabelline wheatear but disappeared too quickly for us to be sure. We stopped to watch a fine and subtly colourful male ortolan bunting bathing on the track just in front of the car.

The drive to Histria produced more rollers and bee-eaters as well as 13 lesser grey shrikes. At Histria we saw another 10 lesser greys as well as marsh harrier, corn bunting, tawny pipit, stone curlew and crested lark. Mammals were also well represented with a stoat, a fox and lots of very endearing souslik close to the car. All the time great, noisy flocks of greylag geese were passing over – we saw over 2000 in total. On the wet scrapes we saw teal, garganey, shelduck, dunlin, green and wood sanpipers, whiskered, gull-billed, black and Caspian terns. The gulls here definitely appeared to be michahellis western yellow-legged gulls. Further along on some reedy pools we found around 20 white pelicans, 5 dalmation pelicans, pochard, spoonbill and a fantastic flock of around 60 collared pratincoles. We tried to check them all for black-winged as they sat on the mud or wheeled around our heads. The latter species is now rare here, but does still occur in very small numbers. We saw none, but the sight of so many of these wonderful birds soaring high or skimming down low, calling all the time was spectacular. So much more impressive than the singles I’ve seen as vagrants in the UK.

Next, we headed to the nearby Chituc region where we saw black-winged stilts, 3 little stints, a Temminck’s stint and 2 marsh sandpipers. 50 white pelicans soared overhead and there were yet more flocks of little gulls. We moved to the beach where we bathed in the Black Sea and then headed inland to begin the long journey to the mountains, crossing the Danube at Silistra on the Bulgarian boarder. Just north of here were fishponds with yet more whiskered terns. We stopped at an old factory to see the red-rumped swallows which nest here amongst the barn swallows and house martins and managed to see at least 2. This species only just manages to sneak into Romania at a few sites here in the far south. Driving on towards Bucureşti we passed another 20 or so lesser grey shrikes which, with odd ones we saw at different sites must have given us a total of around 60 for the day.

We joined the newly opened A2 and sailed towards Bucureşti. Around the northern ring road we passed through some patches of forest and saw 2 black woodpeckers just by chance. On to the A1 and off to Cutea de Argeş in the foothills of the Făgăraş Mountains, where we stayed in a cheap motel for the night (a torrential thunderstorm had put us off camping!). The name of the motel was Posada – faded glory, but clean and pleasant and cheap (less than around £8 pp).

A quick note on the A1; it was quite badly pot-holed in places which came as quite a shock when hurtling along at 70-80mph!

3^rd August - Făgăraş Mountains

After a leisurely start to the day we drove up through the heavily forested slopes to the Lacul Vidraru Dam passing common buzzards and ravens on the way. The dam itself was very impressive and its face was swarming with hirundines; several hundred house martins but also about 40 crag martins all nesting, roosting or resting under the parapet. An echoing, high-pitched trill announced the arrival of four magnificent alpine swifts which swept up to their nests immediately below us giving excellent views down to just a metre or so.

It was wallcreeper that we were really here to see and Imre and I kept scanning the high cliffs as well as the face of the dam. A peregrine glided in and sat quietly in a tree, but there was no sign of the hoped-for wallcreeper. Imre called me over to see a rock bunting, but it had gone by the time I got there. I wandered off again to scan high on a different part of the cliff, but all I could find were black redstarts. Then Imre called me again and I could tell from the urgency in his voice that he had found what we were looking for. I was all prepared to start scanning the cliff above him, but he pointed to the pavement we were standing on around the top of the dam and there, just a few metres ahead, was a male wallcreeper moulting from summer to winter plumage as shown by its dark throat markings. The bird flew up to the parapet and plucked a large moth from behind the metal grill which protected the lights. It proceeded to pull it apart and eat it back on the path. It then retired to the cliff near the road tunnel entrance and began to preen just a few metres up. I watched the bird for half an hour or so, only stopping to look at a male rock bunting which had popped up on the parapet. Totally magic!

Reluctantly, I managed to tear myself away from the wallcreeper and we headed higher up the mountain passing more common buzzards, ravens and kestrels. We drove up and through the tunnel to Balea Lac high in the Făgăraş Mountains. Here we hoped to find alpine accentor which is frequently seen around the lodge. There was snow present in patches and the mountain flowers were stunning with columbines, monkshood and even snowbell. We searched long and hard and saw plenty of water pipits and several black redstarts. The alpine marmots were interesting – like fluffier versions of the sousliks we’d seen just the day before. Unfortunately, however, despite much searching we never did find alpine accentor – the only dip of the trip! The area was very busy with tourists and I would imagine that the birds had gone higher. We began to drive back down the mountains to make our way back to Odorheiu Secuiesc. Just down into the trees again all thoughts of dipping were very quickly forgotten. I saw something brown, hairy and dog-sized moving through the undergrowth. I called for Imre to stop expecting it to be a wild boar but to our astonishment, it was a brown bear cub! We watched it for about twenty seconds until it disappeared back into the trees. In all the time Imre has been watching wildlife, he has never seen a bear so close and so well during daylight. He has seen them very distantly and at feeding sites, but has never just come across one like that. We couldn’t believe our luck. It was certainly worth a whole flock of alpine accentors!

We quickly descended to flat ground where we saw several bee-eaters and even a roller which is quite rare in this part of Romania. We drove towards Odorheiu Secuiesc via the town of Agnita. Along the stretch from Agnita to Sighişoara we saw one lesser grey shrike and 9 great grey shrikes. The latter are much the rarer in Romania, but this is a well known spot for them.

We got back to Imre’s home Odorheiu where his wife had kindly prepared a meal for us. We’d had an incredible 6 days with Imre and Hobby Tours. Luck had certainly been on our side but we would really have struggled to see half the things we did without Imre – a truly excellent guide. After thanking Imre and his wife, we headed south again to Bran where we slept overnight in the car. We wanted to see the castle at Bran and it seemed silly to go back north to Târgu Mureş only to come south again.

4^th August – From Bran back to Târgu Mureş.

Spent the morning around Bran Castle sightseeing where I saw marsh tit, 1 common buzzard and 2 honey buzzards. We then took a leisurely drive back to Târgu Mureş via Agnita again because my partner wanted to take a closer look at the fortified Saxon churches we had noted yesterday. On the drive, 3 lesser spotted eagles showed themselves along the Braşov to Sibiu road. We also saw the shrikes again just after Agnita. This time there were 8 great grey shrikes and one pair of lesser grey as well as the ever-present red-backed. Just north of Odorheiu Secuiesc on the road to Târgu Mureş which goes via Sovata, we saw another 2 lesser spotted eagles and a goshawk. In the hills north east of Praid there were lots of crossbills and a few crested tits. Finally, back at Zoltan’s house in Curteni we heard, but did not see, a Scops owl accompanying the local little owls in their evening chorus.

5^th August – Day trip to Sovata, few birds.

6^th August – Sightseeing around Târgu Mureş, few birds

7^th August – From Romania, through Hungary to Austria

We left Târgu Mureş in the first day-time rain of the whole trip. The border crossing into Hungary took about an hour – I saw a red-footed falcon do it much more quickly! Passing through Hungary produced similar species to before. Camped near Loosdorf.

8^th August – Sightseeing around Salzburg.

Few birds – crag martin and goldeneye (wild?) on one of the town’s lakes.

9^th August – Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Obersalzburg then on into Switzerland.

This is a stunning tourist site near Salzburg (but in Germany) given to Hitler for his 50^th birthday, but now just a restaurant with a spectacular view. Close to the snowline but too busy for those alpine species I was hoping for. However, there were hand-tame alpine choughs around the restaurant terrace.

Then proceeded, via Innsbruck, into Switzerland to camp at Landquart in the heart of ‘Heidi Land’ (I kid you not!).

10^th-12^th August – Through Switzerland via the Oberalpen Pass and into France and the Channel Tunnel and home.

A breathtaking drive through The Alps, but with few birds of note. There were, however, alpine marmots and stunning wild flowers and we even walked on a glacier. I did have brief views of citril finch and nutcracker from the car, but nothing to write home about!

Summary

For a trip with only six days of dedicated birding at a time of year when many species have finished breeding and gone to ground, we did much better than I had dared to hope. With the help of Hobby Tours we managed to see all of the specialities of the Danube Delta as well as isabelline and pied wheatears, sombre tit, 5 woodpeckers and 15 birds of prey. The list total for just those six days was 160 species.

Romania certainly proved itself to be a supreme birding destination with such a wide range of habitats which I only just began to explore; from the low intensity agriculture of Transylvania with its shrikes, lesser spotted eagles and white storks to the extensive marshes of the Danube Delta with its herons, pelicans, cormorants, waders and warblers to the steppe-like habitat of Dobruja with its 4 species of wheatear (only 3 seen on this trip), raptors and sombre tit. We only fleetingly visited the high mountains and never really set foot inside the extensive forests. One trip cannot cover it all but I feel that with around ten days of birding in mid to late spring you would stand a good chance of finding all the European woodpeckers, Ural and perhaps Tengmalm’s and pygmy owl, saker, hazel grouse, horned lark, flycatchers and probably a few surprises on top of the species that we saw. Hobby Tours certainly has sites for most, if not all, of these species. I shall certainly be back.

More than the individual species, however, is the ‘whole package’; the stunning and varied scenery, the history and the sheer spectacle and variety of the birds in huge numbers. Romania is a holiday I will not forget in a hurry!

Ken Tucker, Portland, Dorset. ken.tucker@btinternet.com