BBC 2006: North-east Poland

After the success of the first full BBC international birding trip to Spain in 2005, in 2006 we swapped sun-drenched tapas and sherry for the cold vodka and cabbage of north-east Poland - of course in summer this time, not Spring. We visited the wild areas around the town of Białystok - the town which gave its name to the character Max Bialystock (played by Zero Mostel) in Mel Brook's film The Producers. We stayed in Białowieża, 2 km from the border with Belarus, surrounded by one of the last, and largest, primeval oak forests in Europe - covering over 1,400 square kilometres and home to 800 European Bison.

We were joined by our Polish colleague, Waldemar - who came armed with bottles of Żubrówka Bison Vodka, each containing a blade of Bison Grass (Hierochloe odorata).

We drove up from Białowieża to the Biebrza National Park - 600 square kilometres of marshland on the Biebrza river.

The main aim of the trip was to see Great Spotted and Lesser Spotted Eagles (Clanga clanga and Clanga pomarina). And this we did. The Greater Spotted only breeds from eastern Europe though to Siberia, though populations may be seen in southern Europe in winter. The Lesser Spotted breeds in eastern Europe, Turkey and the Caucasus - overwintering in East Africa. I think this could be a Lesser, with a less broad bill than the Great.

We also saw the native White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), a resident of north-east Europe.

Altogether, we saw over 100 species of birds in Poland. Special to see were those species which can usually only be seen in this part of Europe, and only in summer when they migrate in to breed - such as White-winged Black Tern, Thrush Nightingale, Aquatic Warbler, Icterine Warbler, Barred Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Common Rosefinch. Now, can we go somewhere that's warm with decent food?

BBC 2005: South-west Spain

2005: South-west Spain - the first BBC international expedition with all four members, named the Hawks and Doves Tour! 

We started in the north, in Extremadura, at the town of Trujillo .

Trujillo is famous for its colony of Lesser Kestrels (Falco naumanni), which nest in the square.

It's also the birthplace of the Pizarro brothers: Juan, Francisco, Gonzalo, Hernando (and cousin Pedro) - not a Spanish boy band, but 16th century 'conquistadors' who captured and ruled the Inca empire in what is now Peru. They used their ill-gotten gains to build the wonderful Plaza Major. But it wasn't all sherry and skittles - Juan died in the siege of Cuzco, Gonzalo was executed, Francisco was assasinated and Hernando was imprisoned. Pedro survived them all.

To the north of Trujillo, Montfragüe National Park - a rocky ridge along the River Targus.

It is a renowned breeding site for raptors, including the world's largest colonies of Cinereous (Black) Vultures (Aegypius monachus) and Spanish Imperial Eagles (Aquila adalberti). We saw them both, as well as Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus). Here I count seven Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) peering over the rock. 

I photographed a Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) flying over our heads. We also saw Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata).

Black Storks (Ciconia nigra) also nest here - Iberia and southern Africa are the only areas in the world they are resident, otherwise breeding as migrants from central Europe to Siberia.

The steppes around Caceres are covered with Cork Oaks (Quercus suber). You can see here where the cork has been harvested from the trunks. It is a great habitat for nature, so only buy wine in corked bottles to ensure it survives! We were told Black-shoulder Kites could be seen in the trees, and they looked like the white plastic bags. We searched all day and saw hundreds of white plastic bags.

A Great-spotted Cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) did settle conveniently next to the car. It is only resident on the coast of southern Iberia, and central Africa - migrating through the Mediterranean for summer breeding.

And we did see some magnificent specialities of the steppes: Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax) and Great Bustard (Otis tarda), together with Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (Pterocles alchata), Calandra Lark (Melanocorypha calandra) and Iberian Magpie (Cyanopica cooki). At the end of the day we were treated to one of the best experencies of the trip, as a group of young Montagu's Harriers (Circus pygargus) played over the fields in front of us in the rosy light of the setting sun.

South to Andalusia and the Doñana National Park, where the Guadalquivir River meanders its way into the Atlantic Ocean.

If anything put a smile on my face more than Steve's trousers, it was the village of El Rocio. The roads are of sand, for use by horses, and the hotel has rooms which are tiled with birds and which look over marshes full of waders. A glass of Jerez sherry completes the birding bliss. We saw 25 species of waders, including Temminck's Stint (Calidris temminckii), Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) and Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) - stopping to refuel on their way from Africa to spend the summer in the Arctic regions. White-headed Ducks (Oxyura leucocephala) were also around - in Europe resident only in southern Spain. But the star was a Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus), which migrates from Mexico to Alaska and Siberia, which had some how been blown severly off course across the Atlantic.

Further south, almost to the southernmost point of mainland Europe. We stayed at the coastal village of Zahara de Los Atunes, the place where I spent a university field trip collecting insects and shared meals with the geneticist Steve Jones (who made experiments with painted snails on the beach).

At Barbate cliffs we watched a Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) in search of a pigeon lunch.

Eagle-eyed Steve also proved to be Wryneck-eyed. My second only, and last, view of Jynx torquilla, a weird wood cryptic woodpecker.

We saw over 120 species of birds on the trip, and Spain was such a hit that we returned later in the year on a short jaunt to Mallorca - a great place to see Red-knobbed Coot (Fulica cristata), otherwise only found very locally in areas of Andalusia and Morocco. For those not technically minded, it looks the same as the coots you see in the park, only with red knobs on.

BBC 2004: Southern Turkey

In May 2004, Mike and I followed up 2003's first BBC international expedition to the Arctic with a trip to southern Turkey. We started in the tourist town of Antalya, and reached our easternmost point one thousand kilometres drive away on the Euphrates river.

We visited many marshlands along the coast and inland.

Whilst driving through one marsh, I was aware that the next new species I would see would be my 1,000th. A big bird flew up from a ditch beside the road and headed up into the sky. Mike said it had a piece of string attached to its leg - but it was a snake, which it transferred to its mouth - it was a Short-toed (Snake) Eagle (Circaetus gallicus), my 1,000th bird.

By the road we found a very agitated Spur-winged Lapwing (Vanellus spinosus). We then saw that it was a female with chicks, which ran up to her for protection.

We had great views of one of the most enigmatic waders, the Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola). 

We always check electrical wires for perched birds as we drive along the back roads. This time we came across a Little Owl (Athene noctua) - named after the greek goddess of wisdom, Athena...

...and a real find, Rüppell's Warbler (Sylvia ruppeli) - a migrator from north-east Africa which breeds only in the south of Greece and Turkey. It is one of the fifteen animals named after the German naturalist and explorer Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon Rüppell, who is famed for his explorations of Egypt and Ethiopia at the beginning of the 19th century.

Moving inland, and eastward, we moved into the range of the Asia Minor Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus xanthoprymnus), found from central Turkey to Iran...

...and flocks of Rose-coloured Starlings (Pastor roseus), which can be found from Turkey east to the Caucasus and cental Asia.

The Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) has an interesting distribution across the northern hemisphere. It is resident from the Balkans to China, and in North and central America. In addition it is a summer breeder in the arctic regions of Scandinavia, Russia and Canada, and overwinters in north and eastern Europe. It may be no surprise that forty-two subspecies are recognised! We saw the Southern Horned Lark (E. a. penicillata), found from eastern Turkey to the Caucasus and Iran.

Finsch's Wheatear (Oenanthe finschii) is found from Turkey to Pakistan. It is named after another German naturalist and explorer: Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch, who also has a crater on the moon named after him. He recieved a doctorate for his monograph on the parrots of the world.

From the Sultan Marsh, south of Kayseri, we could see the Aladag mountains rising. We knew that there the Caspian Snowcock (Tetraogallus caspius) could be found - it is confined to mountains in eastern Turkey and the Caucasus, at altitudes above 2,000 m.

We also knew there was a farmer in the village of Demirkazik who could take us up the mountain of the same name to see the Snowcock. Here you can see the mountain and the cart which he would pull us up on behind his tractor.

We had a really uncomfortable ride up the mountain in the dark of early morning to arrive at sunrise in fog, which we waited to clear but which never did. We heard Snowcocks calling, but never saw them. As a consolation, at our feet we found a nest of Radde's Accentor (Prunella ocularis) - which shares the distribution of the Snowcock, and extends down into Israel and Iran. Gustav Ferdinand Richard Radde was a Danzig born naturalist who settled in Tiblisi, Georgia, in 1868.

Our easternmost point, Birecik, on the Euphrates river, twenty km from the Syrian border.

We visited a semi-wild colony of Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita) which was established with 11 individuals in 1977 as a conservation measure. There are now over 260 birds. This Ibis has been extinct in Europe for over 300 years, although introduction programmes are also happening there. The only wild populations left are in Morocco, making up about 500 individuals.

We walked along a gorge that was guarded by Red-fronted Serin  (Serinus pusillus). Above us we saw a huge plane slowly moving across the sky, and guessed it was a NATO bomber. But closer inspection revealed it to be a Beared Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus).

It is well known that a Pallid Scops Owl (Otus brucei) lives in a tree of the garden of the cafe in Birecik. It is a bird of the Middle East and Central Asia - but some individuals go west into Turkey. We visited the cafe and sat and had some tea and a joke with the boys running it, after which they showed us the owl. Whilst we were there a Dutch group arrived and asked the boys where the owl was, without even making polite conversation. The boys told them the owl wasn't there that year.

 

Mike and I saw over 120 species of birds. Other local specialities included Long-legged Buzzard, See-see Partridge, Black Francolin, Isabelline Wheater, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Menetries's Warbler, Eastern Rock-nuthatch, Rock Sparrow, Pale Rockfinch, White-throated Robin and Graceful Prinia. BBC expeditions were well into their stride.

BBC 2003: A cold start in Scandinavia

Around 20 years ago, in the corridors of Novartis in Basel, four like-minded individuals (Mike Neale, Dick van Hees, Steve Skillman, and my good self) were drawn together into a birding group which Mike would later christen BBC (Birds, Beer and Chips).

Local BBC trips in Switzerland soon blossomed into overseas expeditions. This March, a planned trip to the Gambia became our first covid casualty - and since then momentum has ground to a halt. This is the time to reflect on past glories, before once again the world opens up to us.

In 2003, in the height of summer, BBC first went global with the vanguard expedition of Mike and myself to the Arctic Circle. We flew to Oulu, 170 km south of the Arctic and, after beers in the midnight sun amongst the student population, we drove north.

Reindeers (Rangifer tarandus) wander these lands in a circumpolar distribution. There are twelve subspecies of Reindeer - in Finland it is R. t. fennicus, the Finnish Forest Reindeer.

The forests showed us a number of local specialities. The Willow Grouse (Lagopus lagopus) shares the geographical distribution of the Reindeer, but also occurs as far south as Britain. In winter it will become completely white, to blend in with the snow - whereas the Bristish subspecies scotica (known as the Red Grouse) does not develop a full white winter coat, and only has white legs.

The Siberian Tit (Poecile cinctus) also has a circumpolar distribution in coniferous forests. It can be told apart from the Willow Tit, which is found all over Europe, by having a paler head (the subspecies in North America is known there as the Grey-headed Chickadee). This one is nesting in an old woodpecker hole.

Our guide told us he could take us to see the king bird of the forest - the Capercaillie (named after the Irish for 'horse of the woods'). Their main distribution is over Scandinavia and Russia, but isolated populations are found in mountain ranges over Europe - including Switzerland. They feed on forest berries. The females are quite modest grouse-like birds, but the males are much larger black beasts which can reach over 7 kg in weight. Males call in females to mate in what are known as leks (Swedish for 'play'), where they are very competitive. The male we found was sitting on the stump of wood he uses to stake his courtship territory, displaying by raising and fanning his tail and pointing his neck upwards.

On seeing us he moved forward in an act of confrontation.

Luckily our guide was a trained Capercaillie matador, and kept the beast at bay with majestic sweeps of a pine branch.

The main purpose of our trip was to see the owls of the arctic forest, and we saw five species. A Tengmalm's owl (Aegolius funereus) observed us from its nest box.

Through the trees we watched a Great Grey Owl (Strix nebulosa) watching us. It is the world's largest owl by length.

We were taken to the nest of an Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo), in a shelf of a rocky clearing.

As we drove further north, the trees cleared. On the lakes we saw Red-necked Phalaropes (Phalaropus lobatus) which breed in the arctic, and spend their winters in tropical seas. Their sex roles are reversed - the females are larger and more brightly coloured than males, and they pursue and fight over males. The males sit on the nest and raise the chicks, while the females may attempt to find another mate. Girl power!

The end of the road, the easternmost coast of Norway - further north than Iceland and Alaska, and closer to the north pole than to Scotland. We laid on our backs on the grass, looking up at the cliffs, and watched the puffins flying out to sea over our heads and return with sand eels. And the final act - a great black-backed gull, cruising past the cliff, grabbed a puffin out of the air and took it to ground to eat. Nature, red in tooth and claw.

We saw 125 species of birds on that trip, including other arctic specialities such as Red-throated and Black throated Divers, Whooper Swan, Steller's Eider, Long-tailed Duck, Velvet Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Rough-legged Buzzard, Gyrfalcon, Temminck's Stint, Arctic Skua, Long-tailed Skua and Pomarine Skua, Brünnich's Guillemot, Hawk Owl, Red-throated Pipit, Red-flanked Bluetail, Greenish Warbler, Little Bunting, Lapland Bunting, Snow Bunting and Pine Grosbeak.

The BBC roadshow had begun!