New trip to Western Boarder areas: Radomir- Lobosh reservoir

After three exhausting birdwatching trips for the whole of May it was time to finally spend some time with friends. We decided to do a trip to the Western Boarder area of Bulgaria not far from Sofia. I have wanted to do this trip many times and here it is. We took the early morning train at 8.00 a.m. and in about an hour we were already enjoying the beauties of our lovely countryside.

© Iordan Hristov

I was tempted to take my DSLR camera but after the month of carrying the heavy staff, I decided to only take my pocket camera for documentary shots. I didn't quite know where exactly I was going so didn't want to carry too much staff since it was a hiking trip :)

So we started off from a town called Radomir, walked past Priboy, Potsyrnenci and reached a village called Kalishte. Gorgeous mountain meadows were full with butterflies. Birds were actively singing.

Black-veined White © Iordan Hristov

Around the train station in Radomir we found a few interesting birds including Marsh Warbler, Barred Warbler, a colony of Sand Martins, a pair of Black Redstart and many others. Other interesting birds during the trip were a single Short-toed Eagle, a couple of Bee-eaters and Great Reed Warbler. Although the trip wasn't planned as a purely birdwatching trip, the rich and diverse countryside resulted in nearly 60 bird species seen or heard.

Here is a full list of birds seen during the trip:
1. Mallard
2. Common Quail
3. White Stork
4. Short-toed Eagle
5. Common Buzzard
6. Kestrel
7. Yellow-legged Gull
8. Feral Pigeon
9. Collared Dove
10. Turtle Dove
11. Common Cuckoo
12. Little Owl
13. Common Swift
14. Alpine Swift
15. European Bee-eater
16. Great-spotted Woodpecker
17. Syrian Woodpecker
18. Wryneck
19. Skylark
20. Woodlark
21. Sand Martin
22. Barn Swallow
23. Red-rumped Swallow
24. House Martin
25. White Wagtail
26. Yellow Wagtail (black-headed)
27. Robin
28. Nightingale
29. Black Redstart
30. Whinchat
31. Stonechat
32. Song Thrush
33. Blackbird
34. Barred Warbler
35. Blackcap
36. Whitethroat
37. Lesser Whitethroat
38. Great Reed Warbler
39. Marsh Warbler
40. Great Tit
41. Sombre Tit
42. Long-tailed Tit
43. Wood Nuthatch
44. Red-backed Shrike
45. Woodchat Shrike
46. Magpie
47. Jay
48. Raven
49. Starling
50. Golden Oriole
51. House Sparrow
52. Tree Sparrow
53. Spanish Sparrow
54. Linnet
55. Goldfinch
56. Greenfinch
57. Ortolan Bunting
58. Black-headed Bunting
59. Corn Bunting