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Info wanted on a lesser known area of Bulgaria (1 Viewer)

Reader

Reader

Well-known member
I am hoping that some of you will have been to an area that I and my mate Martin (Hummerman) have been invited to next year. When we go is down to us but I suspect that between mid April to Mid may might be the best time to go.

The area is roughly 150 north of Thessalonika & south of Sofia by about 100 miles in a village called Dolno Draglishte.

Has anyone knowledge of this and the surrounding areas. We would like to know the various productive sites around there and what birds we are likely to see.

We will be staying at the Hotel Pirila (http://www.hotelpirila.com) and I am reliably informed that they have Alpine Swifts nesting in their roof space at the moment plus many other birds close by.

John
 
I was hoping someone was clued up on this area so I thought it best to bring it back to the top of the pile in case anyone missed it first time around.

John

Reader said:
I am hoping that some of you will have been to an area that I and my mate Martin (Hummerman) have been invited to next year. When we go is down to us but I suspect that between mid April to Mid may might be the best time to go.

The area is roughly 150 north of Thessalonika & south of Sofia by about 100 miles in a village called Dolno Draglishte.

Has anyone knowledge of this and the surrounding areas. We would like to know the various productive sites around there and what birds we are likely to see.

We will be staying at the Hotel Pirila (http://www.hotelpirila.com) and I am reliably informed that they have Alpine Swifts nesting in their roof space at the moment plus many other birds close by.

John
Click to expand...
 
Hi John,
The area aroung Bansko has not a lot to offer but still some good birds can be seen, namely Nutcracker, Ring Ouzel, Common Crossbill, Pallid Swift etc. and if you have some time for a daily birding (incl. a car) you can see a lot more if you make use of a local guide who will show you around incl. Levant Sparrowhawk, Rock Sparrow, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Rock Nutatch, Long-legged Buzzard, Ortolan Bunting, Wallcreeper, Alpine Accentor, Alpine Chough etc. If you need some assistance just drop me a line when the time comes.
Regards,
Watcher
 
Hi Watcher

Thanks for the reply. You mentioned Bansko. Where is that in relation to Dolno Draglishte, which is where the Hotel is.

We have been invited to go there to find out what is around the nearby area to the Hotel. The owner, who doesn't know too much about birds, wants to know this and use it to help promote his Hotel to British birders and that is why he has asked for our help.

I have to be honest and admit that this will be done on a very low budget, as by then I will have retired. I doubt very much if I am going to be able to afford a guide so I can only hope that we can gather as much info about the surrounding area that is possible and use that to work the area ourselves. Any advice you can pass on would be invaluable to us.

I will certainly ask for your help closer to the dates, which are more than likely going to be the last week in April and the first week in may 2010.

John

watcher said:
Hi John,
The area aroung Bansko has not a lot to offer but still some good birds can be seen, namely Nutcracker, Ring Ouzel, Common Crossbill, Pallid Swift etc. and if you have some time for a daily birding (incl. a car) you can see a lot more if you make use of a local guide who will show you around incl. Levant Sparrowhawk, Rock Sparrow, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Rock Nutatch, Long-legged Buzzard, Ortolan Bunting, Wallcreeper, Alpine Accentor, Alpine Chough etc. If you need some assistance just drop me a line when the time comes.
Regards,
Watcher
Click to expand...
 
Hi John,
Dolno Drglishte is 12km northwards of Bansko, which is the bigget ski resort in Bulgaria. Being located at the foots of Pirin Mountains, Bansko is a base for hiking tours in Pirin Mountains, but could also be used for any other activities. The problem is that you will be there a bit early in spring and some parts of the asphalt road leading up to Vihren Hit might not be opened yet but still you can go as higher as possible by car and then just take a walk around. The region of Melnik and Rupite will be better for birding, but this will certainly require a car. But if your friend wants to advertise his hotels it will be best if you go there later in May or at the beginning of June, when Common Rosefinches will also be present at some particular locaions. If you have a car you can also visit the Trigrad Gorge in the western part of Rodopi Mountains, which is the probably the best place to spot a Wallcreeper in Europe (more info here: http://birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=146008).
Good luck!
 
Hi watcher

Thanks for that info.

We are not constrained by dates. I picked those dates as I thought they may be the best dates but obviously by what you say that may not be correct. If you were to visit that area what two weeks would you pick.

The first week we are hoping to work within a 50km radius of the hotel. The last week we will increase the distance to incorporate any sites that we are told are good, and that could be any distance from the hotel. The Hotel owner will probably be driving us around for the first week but the 2nd week may require us to hire a car.

John

watcher said:
Hi John,
Dolno Drglishte is 12km northwards of Bansko, which is the bigget ski resort in Bulgaria. Being located at the foots of Pirin Mountains, Bansko is a base for hiking tours in Pirin Mountains, but could also be used for any other activities. The problem is that you will be there a bit early in spring and some parts of the asphalt road leading up to Vihren Hit might not be opened yet but still you can go as higher as possible by car and then just take a walk around. The region of Melnik and Rupite will be better for birding, but this will certainly require a car. But if your friend wants to advertise his hotels it will be best if you go there later in May or at the beginning of June, when Common Rosefinches will also be present at some particular locaions. If you have a car you can also visit the Trigrad Gorge in the western part of Rodopi Mountains, which is the probably the best place to spot a Wallcreeper in Europe (more info here: http://birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=146008).
Good luck!
Click to expand...
 
Hi John,
For the alpine parts of Pirin Mountains mid June would be the best, while for the rest of the lowlands that would be around May 10-15th. The best place for Wallcreepers is some 140km from your place (2,30hrs drive one way); the alpine parts of Pirin Mountains (for Ring Ouzel, Alpine Accentor, Nutcracker, Alpine Chough, Black Redstart etc.) could be reached for 45min by car (and then walking higher); the lowlands with the Masked Shrikes, Levant Sparrowhawks, Long-legged Buzzards, Rollers, Bee-eaters, Olive-tree & Olivaceous Warblers, Short-toed Eagles, Rock Nuthatches, Ortolan and Black-headed Buntings, Blue Rock Thrushes, Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, Orphean Warblers, Subalpine and Barred Warblers, Rock Sparrows etc. are 120km away (appr. 2,30hrs drive rom your place); there are also nice steppe hills some 120km from your site with Calandra Lark, Short-toed Lark, Long-legged Buzzard, Isabelline Wheatear, Black-headed Bunting and sometimes Imperial Eagles... the possibilitites are quite a few, the roads are generaly in a bad condition, making a lot of curves in the mountaineous region but I think you will be able to find some good places even closer.
Regards,
watcher
 
Hi watcher

This is all good stuff. There are definitely some ideas for the 2nd week but what about the 50km radius around the hotel for the 1st week. Are there any sites around there worth looking at or is it just a case of just driving around and looking over likely looking sites. That is what I usually do if I don't know an area.

I think June is possibly too late for me as I'm not too sure what we would find away from the Alpine areas. If it's anything like Britain it is the quietest time of the year.

BTW would you recommend a good map for the areas we are likely to go to.

John

watcher said:
Hi John,
For the alpine parts of Pirin Mountains mid June would be the best, while for the rest of the lowlands that would be around May 10-15th. The best place for Wallcreepers is some 140km from your place (2,30hrs drive one way); the alpine parts of Pirin Mountains (for Ring Ouzel, Alpine Accentor, Nutcracker, Alpine Chough, Black Redstart etc.) could be reached for 45min by car (and then walking higher); the lowlands with the Masked Shrikes, Levant Sparrowhawks, Long-legged Buzzards, Rollers, Bee-eaters, Olive-tree & Olivaceous Warblers, Short-toed Eagles, Rock Nuthatches, Ortolan and Black-headed Buntings, Blue Rock Thrushes, Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, Orphean Warblers, Subalpine and Barred Warblers, Rock Sparrows etc. are 120km away (appr. 2,30hrs drive rom your place); there are also nice steppe hills some 120km from your site with Calandra Lark, Short-toed Lark, Long-legged Buzzard, Isabelline Wheatear, Black-headed Bunting and sometimes Imperial Eagles... the possibilitites are quite a few, the roads are generaly in a bad condition, making a lot of curves in the mountaineous region but I think you will be able to find some good places even closer.
Regards,
watcher
Click to expand...
 
Hi John,
The area some 50km around is not particularly good for species, that are not common elsewhere - different types of forests, lands under cultivation, mountain streams etc. Road maps are available in every petrol station. There is a good road atlas with I think 50+ pages that is better to buy compared to the ordinary maps.
watcher
 
Hi watcher

Sorry I'm late with the reply but I have been away since Friday.

Looking at what you have said it doesn't look as though there is anything that we could use to promote the area to help the Hotel. If you have to travel 100+km to get to the better areas then the Hotel isn't an ideal base.

Regarding the map book you mentioned. Is that purchased in Bulgaria or is it one that can be purchased over here. I find that petrol garage maps tend to not have the detail I like that is contained in a good map book, unless Bulgaria's garage maps are different, so a proper map book is what I would go for.

John

watcher said:
Hi John,
The area some 50km around is not particularly good for species, that are not common elsewhere - different types of forests, lands under cultivation, mountain streams etc. Road maps are available in every petrol station. There is a good road atlas with I think 50+ pages that is better to buy compared to the ordinary maps.
watcher
Click to expand...
 
Hi John,
Here is a link to the road atlas I was speaking about: http://www.pe-bg.com/?cid=3&pid=17000
The hotel is definitely not in the best place to go on a birding tour but it is still nice if a family wants to go there and do daily trips in the area. The Brown Bear sanctuary is located very close to it (in Belitsa village) and this is also something worth visiting. You can ask your contact to buy this atlas so that you can have it at hand when he meets you at the airport.
All the best,
watcher
 
Thanks for the reply watcher.

Sorry for not replying earlier but I didn't get an e-mail alert telling me I had had a reply from you. I have had a similar problem in another thread so decided to go back to some other threads I am in and I then realised I had missed your reply.

I will try and get the Hotel owner to link to this thread so he can see what is being said. It will give him an idea about his area, as it looks like birding in that area wouldn't be the prime reason to go there.

John

watcher said:
Hi John,
Here is a link to the road atlas I was speaking about: http://www.pe-bg.com/?cid=3&pid=17000
The hotel is definitely not in the best place to go on a birding tour but it is still nice if a family wants to go there and do daily trips in the area. The Brown Bear sanctuary is located very close to it (in Belitsa village) and this is also something worth visiting. You can ask your contact to buy this atlas so that you can have it at hand when he meets you at the airport.
All the best,
watcher
Click to expand...
 
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