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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dantheman" data-source="post: 2753109" data-attributes="member: 32998">The tripAn unexpected opportunity to do some birding abroad came up this spring at short notice. Basically, this came about due to a wedding in the Ukraine involving a family member. It seemed a bit impolite not to do a bit of birding whilst I was out there, and to fly all that way out there for just a weekend seemed even more impolite, so a plan was hatched …Early on, I realised that Demoiselle Cranes probably still bred in the area, hanging on in the far south east of the Western Palearctic (as mentioned in rather vague terms in various bird finding tour reports). Thus I instantly had my first target species.  I also decided to take the opportunity to visit Lithuania, where I had a standing invitation to visit some native birders I had previously met in Morocco and Finland. Never having visited Eastern Europe before, and having failed to clean up in Finland, I had a target list of a few species I had yet to enjoy the pleasure of seeing. Although I had these target lifers, I was also not too worried - as long as I saw some good birds and enjoyed some good birding I was prepared to act happy enough.With short notice and a malfunctioning internet, preparations did not go as well as I would have liked, but thanks to a few bf members and others, enough info was garnered to know that at least some of my plans were worthwhile. At the worst it would be an adventure … The wedding was set for Sat 25th May. In consultation with my birding contacts on the ground, I decided to visit Lithuania the weekend before (rather than after, as mid May seemed optimal for fresh-in birds displaying and doing their stuff in public), make my way overland to eastern Ukraine (a lot cheaper and friendlier than flying) for the wedding itself (ostensibly the whole reason for visiting of course), and then sort a trip to a site for cranes at some point. A few days was planned as a family holiday/honeymoon retreat on the Crimean peninsula in the south, this looked ideal for me to go off from and have an explore on my own.Itinerary and travel connectionsThurs 16th May – train to BristolFri 17th May – flight to Kaunus, Lithuania, bus to Vilnius, birding pmBirding in Lithuania until Monday eveningMon 20th – overnight bus to Warsaw, PolandTues 21st – birding Warsaw, then overnight bus to Lviv, UkraineWeds 22nd – birding Lviv, then 24hr train to Donetsk, arrival 6pm on the23rdFamily stuff Donetsk Mon 27th – all day travel by train to Simferopol, buses to Bagerove, Kerch peninsulaTues 28th – birding locallyWeds 29th – all day travel west back to Novyi SvitFamily wedding party/holiday/breakSat 1st June – overnight train to DonetskSun 2nd – day in Donetsk chilling/sightseeing, then overnight train to KievMon 3rd -  day in Kiev (birding/sightseeing), flight from Kiev Zhulyany pm to Luton airportTues 4th – overnight travel (train/bus/train) back to Falmouth for 7:30am on the 4th. Shower, unpack and have proper cup of tea.This allowed about 6 or so 7 days of proper birding, with other opportunities for casual sightings, the whole trip probably taking up far more time than necessary due to the way the weekends fell, excessive travel and the like. Plus they need to move all the airports a lot closer to Falmouth ...Birding genI was unable to find a single actual proper birding trip report to Ukraine (Ukraine, as in Ukraine being a country, rather than 'The Ukraine', which indicates it's just a region of Russia … should get that one straight) on the internet, which initially panicked me somewhat (it's a big country, about the biggest in Europe), and even though cranes are quite big, it could still be a bit like finding a needle in a haystack if I didn't know where I was meant to be... One name kept cropping up – Bagerove (actually a google search cropped it up only a paltry 12 times when 'Demoiselle Crane + Bagerove' was entered, but at least one of those mentioned punkbirders, and had photos (in flight), so it seemed a worthwhile place to start looking). So I had a target area. Took the Collins, and some summaries of Ukrainian birding from books as supplied by a couple of BF members.Background info and resourcesA week or so prior to my trip I (well a friend did, cf previous mentioned internet problems) purchased the Lonely Planet Ukraine guide from Amazon (plus the Poland one), along with a map and a Ukrainian phrase book (which turned out to be fairly useless, as everyone speaks Russian in the east/south east). This helped a fair bit with info on the ground. Some travel arrangements were made via the internet, eg I was even able to buy my train tickets online beforehand on the Ukraine website.  At the time of my trip 1 GBP = 0.08 AUH, travel was very cheap (eg bus/trams 20p, my 24hr 3rd class sleeper train journey costing c.8 quid), most other living costs also considerably cheaper than uk equivalents. Weather was mostly pleasantly warm, although  it does get hot later in the season. Heavy rain an issue on several days. Mosquitoes not a problem in Ukraine, Lithuania already an issue in the forests etc. I felt perfectly safe almost all the time – rumours of gangs operating on overnight sleeper trains seemed far-fetched with the reality being young families and single women etc travelling the norm. As a westerner with no Russian beyond 'Da', 'Nyet'  and 'Gorbachev' in my extensive vocabulary, I didn't even feel unwelcomed. People friendly and always someone speaks English if required (eventually, sometimes). Normal precautions in cities, but felt perfectly safe on the whole. Only really had trouble trying to find my way during rush hour commutes on occasion – but then I'm sure London is worse, and groups of shifty looking characters in the vicinity of Warsaw train station meant not that wise to hang about if you want to avoid hassle. ATMs (Bankomats) and money exchanges not a problem in the cities I passed through. Cyrillic alphabet a bit of a problem with getting around and purchases/getting information, but words like 'cypermarkhet' (with some odd symbols replacing some letters) recognisable after a while as a place to buy food provisions. Fortunately.The countries involvedLithuania was, to me, an absolute luxury – with birders on the ground I did not have to do any research/find out any gen at all for myself – absolutely atrocious behaviour! Some great birding.Poland – with hindsight it would have been great to spend a few days exploring some of the premier sites in the country, eg Bielowieski Forest (which I quite possibly passed through on the night bus), then fly to Donetsk, but internet troubles and planning time predilected somewhat against this. Took this overland route rather than travelling more directly through Belarus as the cost of a visa (c.150 smackeroos) was excessively prohibitive!Ukraine - would thoroughly recommend Ukraine as a birding destination. In addition to the above, hire car and petrol cheap, lots of cracking birding to be had in the south, eg around the Danube/Crimea/Carpathians. Barely scratched the surface in my few days, plenty of good birds I didn't target or see.Full body of the trip report hopefully to follow, although this might be more of a rambling travelogue-type-thing than a proper hardcore birding trip report. We'll see.</blockquote>

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