Estonia (April 2005)

Estonia – Apr 2005

by Dot Lincoln

A copy of the text of this report is available to download here.

Having accepted the unexpected offer from ?Moonsund Eco? of a free place on a promotional tour of bird reserves in western Estonia, I cannot praise the experience too highly. Apart from the flight , everything was included: accommodation in one fair sized and one small guest house (no ensuite facilities , just a communal sauna ? but organised to be single sex !, all meals with mostly good plain cooking and plenty of it, all transport by minibus, small boat and ferry: our every need was taken care of . The first main day we spent in part of the huge nature reserve at Matsalu Bay on the west coast of the mainland. At various points around the bay there are high metal watch towers left from Russian occupation times, and now used as bird observatories. Struggling up the flights of steep stairs with a scopak on the back and standing exposed in a howling gale at the top was quite something. Although elk, white stork and cranes plus terns and gulls were seen from here, we soon descended to comparative warmth at ground level. The highlight of this day and indeed the whole trip was the small open boat trip through the reedbeds to the not very open sea of the bay where we had superb views of numerous white tailed sea eagles, immatures and adults, swooping and fishing in the sea. There were also close views of Caspian tern, and green sandpiper.. The weather was much like North Norfolk in February and as I was wearing my usual six layers of clothing ? thermal, wool, fleece and windproof etc I did not get cold except at the top of the towers. In better weather and with more time I believe you could spend a whole day going from tower to tower round the enormous bay, but you would have to drive round on the roads as much of the area is inaccessible wetland and protected area.

In the evening we were driven to the ferry port at Hapsalu where there were scaup in the harbour. En route to Hapsalu we saw the flat terrain with fields recently ploughed and waiting for potatoes or carrots to be planted and large grassy areas of hay meadows still brown from the ravages of winter. Hooded crows were evident and white stork nesting on the occasional chimney. The crossing to the large island of Hiiumaa (the whole of which is a protected nature reserve) took one and a half hours across the shallow sea, a distance of about 20 miles. We saw lots of sea duck but had closer views of them all once on the Island. We stayed for three nights in a small guest house hidden in the woods, and in the grounds among the trees I saw siskin, bullfinch, a pair of crossbills and lesser and middle spotted woodpecker. The two days on the island were spent being taken to various bays around the island and walking by the sea and through the coniferous forests. There were flocks of common and velvet scoter, eider duck and innumerable long tailed duck constantly on the move. The sheltered bays revealed Bewick and Whooper swans, also mute swan (a fairly recent addition to this area) and several groups of smew. By rights the swans should have moved on in their migration, but were held up by the strong northerly winds, as were the expected but yet to arrive flocks of waders and warblers. The only waders we saw were a group of about fifty avocets in one bay, and the occasional lapwing and oystercatcher.The final day was taken up with the return drive across the island to the ferry port, the ferry tripand the one hour drive to Tallinn. We had had snow showers the whole of the previous day but the mainland had evidently had more so the landscape looked like fairyland, with snow on the conifers and bare branches of the deciduous trees. A walking tour of the mediaeval old town of Tallinn and a splendid meal in a Russian cellar restaurant completed this excellent trip provided by ?Moonsund Eco? a small enterprise formed to promote nature and landscape conservation. They will provide tailor made trips with guides and accommodation if requested on www.moonsund.ee.

 


St. Agnes, Isles of Scilly (Oct/Nov 2004)

St. Agnes, Isles of Scilly – Oct/Nov 2004

by Renton Righelato

A copy of the text of this report is available to download here.

29th October – 1st November 2004

After a week of gales from the South and East and a telephone call with Doug Page on St Agnes telling me the island was inundated with birds, I couldn?t resist it. I took the train from Reading on Thursday afternoon only to find the line was washed away at Exeter and near Penzance and there was no e.t.a. So, jumping off at Taunton, the next train back to Reading and into my car for a night ride to Penzance, feeling guilty about carbon emissions, but I had to get there.

By 10 that morning, I was on St Agnes, gasping at Porth Killier beach, bouncing with hundreds of Chiff Chaffs feeding on the weed; hundreds of continental Robins, some with such pale breasts one had to look twice; and dozens of Black Redstarts. Four Waxwings flew by, though no sign of the Pallas?s Warbler Doug had seen on the beach yesterday. But as we walked up to the Lighthouse, there flitting along the hedgerow in the sunshine amongst the Chiffs, that spectacular little bird, all yellow stripes and rump.

This was the biggest fall I can recall in Scilly for many years; there were in excess of 300 Chiffchaffs, 500 Robins and 50 Black Redstarts on St Agnes alone and probably a similar density on the other islands. St Agnes kept me busy though: over the next couple of days the Waxwing numbers grew to at least 12. A stream of the common late migrants, like Redwings, Fieldfares, Brambling, Redpoll, Woodcock, Golden Plover, Snipe, Short-eared Owl, Blackcaps, some late Swallows and a not quite good enough view of a Barred Warbler. On the sea: a Grey Phalarope and parties of Little Gulls inshore and a Great Northern Diver further off.

That weekend Pallid Swifts were being reported all along the eastern seaboard; it had to be only a matter of time before one appeared in Scilly. So I wasn?t surprised when it came on the pager ? Pallid Swift on St Mary?s. However, although visibility and my imagination were good, I just couldn?t see it at 2-3 miles range. Later that afternoon, though, as I was counting finches in a turnip field a swift shot over me, with pale flight feathers and rounded wingtips. Dragging Doug Page from the Liverpool match, we had splendid views on and off until dusk when it went to roost on Castella Down.

On the Monday morning, just before leaving, I stood under the apple trees in the Parsonage garden, with Firecrests and Goldcrests beside me and Waxwings eating the windfalls around my feet ? sadly no camera, but the memories are vivid.

 


Canada (June 2004)

Canada – Jun 2004

by Ray Reedman

A copy of the text of this report is available to download here.

The last place I had expected to see a Turkey Vulture was over the centre of Montreal, but Mary had spotted one circling in front of our hotel window: it was probably close to the northern edge of its range. Mind you, I hadn’t expect to find a whole colony of Cliff Swallows building nests at the old docks either, but Montreal did produce some unexpectedly good basic birding. Red-winged Blackbirds were displaying in the parks alongside singing American Robins and Common Grackles. Dusky Chimney Swifts and shiny Tree Swallows were overhead. Black-capped Chickadees, Grey Catbirds and Brown Cowbirds graced the Botanical Gardens, where a drake American Wigeon joined some Mallards in a pool. American Crows were on the rooftops, Great Blue Herons flapped overhead and Ring-billed Gulls swirled over the line of the St Lawrence.

Spring came very late to Canada this year, as the wet, untilled fields showed. Travelling by rail to Quebec, it was easy to see Starlings, Grackles and displaying Red-winged Blackbirds along the fence lines. The open fields were dominated by the ubiquitous American Crow: no Rooks and Wood Pigeons, of course, just a few Mourning Doves in the woodland fringes.

We were lucky enough to catch up with a late winter flock of Cedar Waxwings as they stole apple blossom from a suburban garden in Ste Foy. As they did so, resplendent Yellow Warblers and American Goldfinches patrolled their new territories. In another garden, Purple and House Finches, Savannah and Chipping Sparrows were still using the winter feeders – and testing my ornithological French to the limits!

A week later, as we drove through New Brunswick, we came across the first of many Red-tailed Hawks and Ospreys over forest and lakes and saw a mass of Double-crested Cormorants along the St John River. When I spotted a Snipe over a marshy bit it was in the knowledge that this was the American race, but it was gone in a trice. Barn Swallows were arriving and still fairly scarce. Scarcer still were Canada Geese, as we were in the southernmost part of their breeding range: there were just a few pairs dotted along our way, with goslings visibly six weeks behind those back home. But at least these were the real thing! An occasional Belted Kingfisher sat on roadside wires.

A woodland margin in Prince Edward Island produced the first woodpecker, a Northern Flicker. More Yellow Warblers showed up in similar habitat, while the burgeoning deciduous canopy of Anne’s “Haunted Wood” at Green Gables produced spectacular orange and black American Redstarts, as well as Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a Red Squirrel.

The many inlets on the island had more Great Blue Herons, Ospreys and the first Bald Eagle. A solitary pair of Blue-winged Teal was contemplating – rather forlornly, it seemed – a nesting site by a pool where the reeds were still brown and scythed low by a late and severe winter.

The more remote forested area of the island’s northern tip seemed alive with Ravens, while Gannets, Great Black-backed Gulls and the scarcely-smaller American Herring Gulls fed offshore. A trio of Common Eiders was in full breeding plumage.

Next, we drove down into Nova Scotia, where a beautiful pair of Northern Harriers was hawking over a coastal farm. At a quiet rural house outside Truro we had a fleeting visit from an early pair of Ruby-throated Humming-birds, while a neighbour’s feeders hosted a Hairy Woodpecker.

In the lakeside park in Dartmouth, Black Ducks and Mallards were plentiful, but the woodland there swarmed with Black-capped Chickadees that came to the hand to feed, as did the Eastern Chipmunks and Red Squirrels. Blue Jays and American Crows were nearly as bold. But it was the less obvious that I really treasured: a Red-breasted Nuthatch with a jazzy facial pattern; a family of slate-coloured Dark-eyed Juncos feeding in the leaf litter; Song Sparrows singing and feeding in the marginal reeds; an Ovenbird flitting frustratingly and noisily inside dense bushes; finally the nuthatch movements of the spectacular Black-and-white Warbler. Equally memorable were the beautiful Lady’s Slipper Orchids, Nova Scotia’s Provincial flower, that were in full bloom on the forest floor.

The lakes there also attracted a pair or two of Common Loons – our Great Northern Divers – in their incredibly smart black and white summer plumage, as well as Ospreys and Bald Eagles. It was here that we saw a Common Tern, the only tern of the whole trip.

We saw a lot more of the large fishing raptors when we went north to the rugged Cape Breton Island. At Baddeck we watched them patrol the Bras D’Or Lake as we ate our meals. There was also a large breeding colony of Great Cormorants on an island there, this species becoming more prevalent in maritime and more northerly areas.

However, it was the woodland behind our hotel that gave me some of the best moments, with a singing male Blackburnian Warbler, a diminutive Yellow-bellied Flycatcher with a large moth, a foraging male Common Yellowthroat, and the hidden, but distinctive song of the Eastern Wood Pee-wee. American Crows, American Robins, Common Grackles and even Yellow Warblers seemed plentiful there. And the “kronk” of a disturbed Raven was well worth the dusk walks among the helicopter-sized man-eating mosquitoes!

It was while watching the antics of more feeding Gannets off the northeast coast in a chilling north wind that I spotted Bank Swallows – Sand Martins back home – feeding around the cliff edge. Summer was in some evidence after all. Earlier that same day we had seen another winter-style flock of Cedar Waxwings. The seasons were in a true mess! As we toured through the highest part of the Cabot Trail among the Ravens and Red-tailed Hawks, the deep red of the breaking maple leaves contrasted breathtakingly with the bitter greens of new aspen and birch. In the third week of June it was like an English April up there – and there was still reluctant grey snow on the northern slopes!

Was there a particularly memorable moment? I can’t think of many motorway breaks that would produce a Bald Eagle, a pair of balletic Ravens and a Northern Flicker all within a minute. And the one that nearly got away? A Ring-necked Duck that, in a soporific moment, registered in my mind as a Tufty!

Canada is a vast country and the birds can seem to be thinly dispersed. The prime objective of our trip was to visit family and to tour the Eastern Provinces. Birding opportunities were secondary and my bonus was to find birds as we went. It was a great season for such a trip. I can only imagine what I might have found if I had been really trying!

 


An Arctic trip: Lapland and the Varanger (June 2004)

An Arctic trip: Lapland and the Varanger 4-14 June 2004

by Renton Righelato

A copy of the text of this report is available to download here.

Red-necked Phalaropes
Red-necked Phalaropes at Ekkerøy

Four years ago I went with Finnish friends on a birding trip through Lapland and on to the Varanger fjord. I was so impressed by the range and numbers of birds and by the beautiful arctic light, that this year I arranged a similar trip with a friend new to the arctic. We flew to Helsinki and on to Rovaniemi where we hired a car and stayed initially near Kuusamo in the east of Lapland. Here there is a mixture of bog and birch forest on the low land and ranges of hills with old coniferous forest. It is here that the famous (at least in Finland) Kuusamo bird race is held in mid June. We stayed in a beautifully equipped log cabin on a lake, with a splendid bog a mile away – Cranes, Broad Billed Sandpipers, Ruff, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank and Redshank, Red-necked Phalarope, Dunlin, Snipe etc; on the fringes Little Bunting and Waxwings and in the surrounding birch forest, lots of Capercallie. And all the time, the song of the ubiquitous Wood Sandpiper.

A day’s search of the Valtavaara ridge found Siberian Jay and a singing Greenish Warbler but failed to produce a bird that I had been longing to see, the Red-flanked Bluetail. Fortunately, I had arranged to go out for an evening’s owling with Olli Laminsolla, the organiser of the Kuusamo Bird Club and a professional ornithologist. He showed us Eagle Owl, Hawk Owl and Tengmalm’s Owl at their nest sites. Although the latter two species are not disturbed by people, with Eagle Owl we were much more circumspect, watching from a distance of well over 100 m.

Olli had just heard of a singing Bluetail on a different Ivaara ridge, so rather than go to bed, we continued through the “night”; around 4 am heard the song in a beautiful area of old growth boreal forest and eventually located this spectacular bird perched at the very top of a fir in bright sunshine.

From Kuusamo, which is on the arctic circle in Eastern Lapland, we moved north, in snow and rain, 600 km to the Varanger fjord in the north of Norway, stopping frequently to explore the changing habitats. Reindeer are everywhere; other mammals we saw were arctic hare and arctic fox. The roadside turned up Lapland Buntings and huge numbers of the feldegg (black headed) race of the Yellow Wagtail. In low old birch forest, we saw Siberian Tits and as you go north the Brambling replaces our Chaffinch.

Long-tailed Skua
Long-tailed Skua near Ekkerøy

After two days we got to the Varanger; the arctic sea is rich in fish and so full of seabirds and the coastal tundra and willow scrub is rich in breeding waders, skuas and a good many passerines. We stayed in a house on the beach at Ekkerøy, with Eider, King Eider, Goosander and Mergansers offshore, Red-necked Phalaropes swimming in the bay and Red-throated Pipit feeding young in the garden. Bluethroats were almost anywhere there was a bush to nest in, vociferous and prominent, quite unlike the skulking little brown things we see drifted on migration.

We took a boat from Vardø to Hornøya, which has the one of the densest and most diverse seabird colonies I have seen, including five species of auk – Puffin, Common, Brunnich’s and Black Guillemot and Razorbill.

On the tundra, often many kilometres from the sea, Arctic Skuas and Long-tailed Skuas heavily outnumber the Arctic Terns that seem to spend 101% of their time defending themselves. On the deeper pools, Velvet and Common Scoter, Smew and Long-tailed Ducks. In marshy areas, Ruff, Temmincks Stint and, of course, Wood Sandpipers. We were told that there were about 30 White-tailed Eagles around the Varanger and along the beach, close to our house, four of these huge beasts were hanging out.

We missed Rustic Bunting, supposedly numerous but very furtive and with a very short song period, and Steller’s Eider, that had already passed through. In all we had a delightful ten days and 141 species, including many of my favourite birds, two of which are shown below.

 


Lesvos (May 2004)

by Ted Rogers

A copy of the text of this report is available to download here.

Our traditional spring time birdwatching trip took five ROC members to the much vaunted birding island of Lesvos. Taking the first available direct flight of the year from Gatwick we landed safely at Mytilini Airport, where we picked up our nine-seater minibus (an ideal vehicle for up to 6 normal sized people or possibly 9 hobbits).

The drive across the island took us to our rented house in Skala Eressos. Most birding visitors to Lesvos choose Skala Kalloni as their location, with its geographically central location and proximity to some of the best known birdwatching sites. Not being inclined to follow the crowd, we chose Skala Eressos as our base (in the North West part of the island) and, as we seemed to be the only birdwatchers staying in the village, we certainly achieved that objective!

Any concerns that we had about Lesvos being overrated as a birdwatching destination or our choice of location ill advised, were soon dispelled on the first morning, when our pre-breakfast walk took us along the sea front to an area where the small local river enters the sea. The reedy river mouth was teeming with birds, warblers included Olivaceous, Reed, Sedge, Great Reed and Cettis and, upstream, waders included Wood Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper and Ruff. Among the reeds we found Little Bittern, Purple Heron, Squacco Heron and a diminutive Little Crake, while, overhead, wheeled Red Rumped Swallows, Martins and Alpine Swifts. With other obvious migrants like Golden Oriole, Grey-Headed Wagtail and Spotted Flycatcher it would be fair to say that the week started with a bang! After a pause for a late breakfast (time had rather flown when we had been having fun!) we headed inland into the surrounding hills, where a rough track added other delights like Cretzchmars Bunting, Crag Martin, Sombre Tit, Masked Shrike, Woodchat, Subalpine Warbler, Raven, Long-Legged Buzzard and Lanner Falcon. We finally retraced our steps (thoroughly satisfied) to Skala Eressos for an excellent meal (and a small sampling of local wine).

On day two we stuck with our policy of finding our own birds in the local area and headed off for a morning walk around a local hill known as Sappho?s Mound which gave us our first Lesser Grey Shrike, Beeeaters, Rock Nuthatch and Chukkar. The afternoon was spent in the hills above Eressos mainly in search of the ?must see? Cinereous Bunting, which gave themselves away by their simple song delivered from prominent rocks. As we scanned the surrounding mountain side a purple patch of raptor activity provided Short Toed, Bonelli?s and Booted Eagles before we headed back down to the minibus parked at the edge of the village. A movement in the local orchard showed that, at migration time on Lesvos no bushes or trees should go unchecked, as some careful searching turned up a number of Wood Warblers, an Icterine Warbler and several Spotted Flycatchers and then, a truly stunning male Collared Flycatcher.

The rest of the week was spent visiting the more famous (in birdwatching circles at least) areas around the island. The birding didn?t disappoint, with views of terns (including White Winged Black), Glossy Ibis, Slender Billed Gull, Rufous Bush Chat and Tawny and Red Throated Pipits around the Kalloni Salt Pans; Kruupers Nuthatch and Firecrest at Achladeri; Isabelline Wheatears, Roller and countless Red Backed Shrikes on the way to Sigra; Black Kite at Ipsolou Monastery and numerous Lesser Kestrels near Sigra, to name but a few.

As always, we didn?t see all the species that we would have liked, both Red Footed Falcon and Pratincoles evaded us, not to mention Olive Tree Warbler and Scops Owl (I said not to mention them!). Also, the weather, which had been fine all week, broke on the penultimate day, but we all thoroughly enjoyed our week on this lovely island. Would I say that Lesvos is overrated? I would say definitely not and also don?t feel that Kalloni is the only area worth visiting.

 


Sardinia (May 2004)

Sardinia – May 2004

by Colin Wilson

A copy of the text of this report is available to download here.

Alghero from the Promenade
Alghero from the Promenade

I went with my wife and another couple to Alghero, a Ryanair destination, for a long weekend. It wasn’t a birdwatching trip but who can resist packing the binoculars!

Around Alghero, a nice old town with lots of restaurants and cafes, generally reasonably priced, the birdlife was limited but the surrounding seashore contained Shag and Yellow-legged Gulls. The highlight was the Swifts, hundreds of them and at night they filled the sky with their screaming. The other bird of the town was the Spanish Sparrow, very common everywhere.

Our hotel, the Angedras was ten minutes walk from the town and breakfast on the terrace allowed House Martins and Collared Doves to be added to the list, with more Sparrows! From our balcony, Serin was heard continuously and Greenfinch. Spotless Starlings were also observed here.

The town is small and only occupied us for a day so we hired a car and headed for Capo Caccia, a headland with a lighthouse and Neptune’s caves, a tourist attraction beneath it. A brief stop to run down the 653 steps to the caves and back up, and then take oxygen for a few minutes was a very productive birding experience! From the steps the views of bird filled cliffs – Yellow-Legged Gulls at close range with lovely photo opportunities of them amongst flower strewn ledges, and the sound of Alpine Swifts twittering overhead was enjoyable. Once back on top and recovering a Peregrine flew past with an unfortunate bird in its claws, possibly one of the many Crag Martins feeding around the rocks.

A view from Monteleone
A view from Monteleone

On the hillsides Sardinian Warblers were evident and Linnets in brilliant summer plumage. Most enjoyable was a Blue Rock Thrush enjoying the sunshine and working back and forth giving great views.

We moved on to places North and on route found plenty of Bee-eaters, Kestrels and numerous interesting birds we didn’t stop for. Close to Stintino the furthest point North we visited a good marshland area was found but we had no time to stop and a Common tern (probably) was all we could note.

The following morning, leaving wives in bed, we ventured out at 6am and, in somewhat dank conditions found a marshy area between Alghero and the airport. Our list included Cetti’s, Nightingale, Zitting Cisticola, Little Egret, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Stonechat.

Donkey on the road to Bosa
A donkey enjoys spring flowers on the road to Bosa

After breakfast, we headed South along a beautiful coast road to Bosa. Stopping on the way we saw Buzzard and Griffon’s Vulture in good numbers and the whole area was worthy of exploring further. During the afternoon a stop in the hills at Monteleone (see picture) provided more sightings of Blue Rock Thrush and Woodlark. This latter bird seemed to be singing in lots of places in the countryside and was a delight.

All in all I think Sardinia is an island worth exploring further. It is interesting because many of the Field Guides show holes in the bird populations and species like Lesser Whitethroat, Nuthatch, Olivaceous Warbler and Dipper don’t appear there at all. Redstart, Whitethroat and Meadow and Tree Pipits only pass through. The habitat in the North looked good and it is quite a substantial island where there are lots of wild areas offering more potential. If you get the chance, I recommend you go birding there and see what you can find – the island is nice enough even if it you don’t find massive rarities.

 


Danube Delta (May 2004)

Danube Delta – 16-17 May 2004

by Renton Righelato

A copy of the text of this report is available to download here.

In mid May, I had a business meeting in Bucharest on to which I managed to add a couple of days to visit the Romanian part of delta of the Danube. It is a huge area, the biggest wetland in Europe, and not easy to access without a guide. So I made contact with Dragos Onciulenciu who runs a fishing and bird-watching tour business in the Delta and arranged to spend a couple of days based on his “floating hotel”, moored near Tulcea. I was the only guest, lavishly entertained by Dragos on what turned out to be a converted prison hulk that predated even Ceaucescu. The conversion was actually quite good, with the exception of the narrow board beds, and the site, in a quiet spot on the St Georges Channel, was lovely.

The Delta is huge and it takes at least a week to see it properly. I had a day and a half, so I planned an itinerary with Dragos to see the birds I was most interested in – my key targets were Slender-billed Gull and Paddyfield Warbler. Wherever we went, Lesser Grey Shrikes, Rollers, Bee-eaters covered telephone wires and any other suitable perch; Red Footed Falcons outnumbered kestrels. Herons were ubiquitous: I saw Grey, Purple, Night, Squacco, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Bittern, Little Bittern; and White Storks were as tame as Robins.

We took off first around the southern side of the Delta, to an area of lagoon which White and the rather dirty Dalmation Pelicans frequent. They were ther, but more importantly, in the reeds with a Marsh Warbler-like song, were several Paddyfield Warblers; much more distinct than the field guides would have you believe, with their capped appearance, sandy bodies and long tails.

A few kilometres further, beside a derelict shoe factory (post Ceaucescu much of the manufacturing economy collapsed, leaving derelict factories and towns full of unemployed people), in what was probably an old waste water reservoir, were hundreds of Black Headed and Mediterranean Gulls breeding and standing out among them a few giraffe-like, Slender Billed Gulls! Great! Ticks ticked, I could go on and enjoy the hundreds of Collared Pratincoles mobbing me, the Black-winged Stilts, Black, Whiskered and White-winged Black Terns and many of the other birds of southern European marshes. In scrub a little inland, singing Barred Warblers took me by surprise and it was a delight to see plentiful Red Backed Shrikes.

In my day and a half, I saw some 120 species and there were around 120 more species that I would probably have seen if I had spent a week there and done the area properly.

Although it is internationally recognised as a habitat of global importance, this is an area under threat. Much of the Romanian part of the old Delta is privately owned (by powerful establishment figures) and is gradually being eroded by development (the growing part of the delta is in the Ukraine whose environmental credentials I know nothing of). Hunting and fishing are major businesses in Romania – I was told that the Prime Minister is also President of the Hunting association – and so I was disturbed to find the carcass of a White-tailed Eagle on a beach in my wanderings, cause of death unknown (we collected it to take to the Biosphere Reserve’s laboratory).

Although there was much I found difficult to accept in the country – all the Romanians I spoke to complained of the corruption, there is clearly a lot of racial intolerance, there are gross and growing inequalities in wealth and the central plain is a hedge-less agricultural desert – the Delta and the forests are still spectacular and I would love to spend enough time to see them properly.

For anyone interested in seeing the Danube Delta properly, Dragos has sent me a proposal for a week tour for a small group (no more than 10), using in his ship hotel as a base for going around the area; best time May to mid June. Contact me if you are interested.