Bulgaria, 5-18 July 2022

A two week family holiday to Borovets south of Sofia, and a small village a few miles north west of Gabrovo in the centre of Bulgaria.

Borovets

At Borovets we were staying at a small villa complex a few miles south of the village, tucked away down a forest track. The habitat was disturbed forest (few old trees) and meadows. The buildings were being used by nesting Pallid Swifts, giving excellent views as they undertook screaming laps. Black Woodpecker were quite vocal, heard most days and seen on several occasions. Several Red-backed Shrike territories and calling Quail were in/around the meadows by the buildings. A Hazel Grouse flushed from a forest track on 5th, a Black Stork circling on the 8th, and Nightjar on the evening of the 10th were further highlights from the site.

Borovets village itself is a ski resort village and always appears a little shabby and deserted in the summer months, with few of the hotels or restaurants appearing to be open.

Musala Hut

On July 7th we took the gondola up from Borovets to the Yastrebetz station (2363m) from where it is about a 50 minute walk along a flattish track to Musala Hut (2925m). The walk is through dwarf conifer and ski lift and skiing pistes, so rather degraded (and birdless) habitat, save for the occasional flyover Crossbill or Raven.

The Musala Hut is in a small valley with low shrubs and an ‘alpine’ meadow. The ‘hut’ is actually the size of a small hotel, so don’t go expecting a twee wooden cabin. You can buy hot/ cold drinks, snacks and bean stew there.

The commonest birds around the Hut were Black Redstart, White Wagtail and Ring Ouzel, the latter reasonably approachable. There are trails that head further up the mountain, but we did not venture on. In the past, Wallcreeper has bred in the smaller (and older) of the two buildings, but no sure whether this was a regular occurrence and it was mid-renovation on our visit.

The Gondola operates 08:30-16:30 every day apart from Mondays during the summer, takes about 20 minutes, and costs 25 Lev return. The weather on our visit was clear and sunny but can be very changeable, so go prepared for anything (and take sunblock). Alternatively, rather than taking the gondola you can hike up from Borovets or hike the trail down to Borovets from the Yastrebetz station, the latter option will take you through the tree line and forest where Three-toed Woodpecker and forest owls occur.

Seven Lakes

A chairlift (a few km south east of the village of Panichishte) up to the Seven Lakes operates a similar timetable as the Yastrebetz gondola, also takes 20 minutes, and cost 25 Lev return. The chairlift is open (the gondola is enclosed) so worth dressing appropriately, and securing possessions before the jump on (finding your dropped keys or phone in the forest that you pass over would, I imagine, be a bit of a nightmare.

The Seven Lakes area is I think one of the busiest mountain sites in Bulgaria due to its proximity to Sofia (less than 90 minutes away), ease of access via the chairlift, and the stunning scenery. I was on the first chair up that morning and so had the place pretty much to myself for the first hour or so, but even later on in the morning most visitors were aiming for the ridge viewpoints to the east, leaving other areas reasonably quiet.

The Seven Lakes Hut sits in a much larger and more open alpine meadow area than Musala Hut, with several small lakes (the wider area has, would you believe it, seven in total). It was much ‘softer’ looking than the area around the Musala Hut, and much birdier. I took the trail west from the Hut that went up onto the ridge, alongside the grassy plateau and then headed to the southern edge of the ‘kidney’ lake, which is the westernmost of the lakes. I would have loved to explore further, getting up into Alpine Accentor and Wallcreeper habitat, but did not have time.

Water Pipit were the commonest species, calling and singing from pretty much everywhere, with Black Redstart almost as common. There were several pairs of Whinchat near the hut and a pair of Rock Thrush feeding on the trail just to the west of the Hut that leads up to the ridge viewpoints, seemingly feeding young. A second female was further along the trail near the viewpoint (wooden barriers). Two Shore Lark were on the edge of the grassy plateau, as were several Northern Wheatear, and a single Alpine Chough drifted overhead.

Just below the chairlift stop at the tree line two Ring Ouzel were provisioning chicks, and the chairlift ride itself was pretty good for hearing or seeing Nutcracker, Crossbill, Firecrest, Chiffchaff, and Dunnock.

Malyovitsa Hut

The starting point for the trail up to the Malyovitsa Hut is several km south west of the village of Govedartsi. Parking is in the small ski ‘resort’, with the clearly marked track up to the hut passing through forest and then up through the tree line. The walk up to the Hut is only a few km and takes about an hour (depending on how much you stop to either bird or catch your breath).

The highlight for my visit on the morning of July 10 was definitely the Three-toed Woodpecker, seen about halfway up to the Hut. There were also several family parties of Nutcracker, including birds feeding in the tops of the dwarf conifers at close range. I only went as far as the Hut itself due to time, but heading further up will no doubt get you into Alpine Accentor etc. territory. The route is over rough terrain and the weather is of course highly changeable, so be appropriately prepared.

Prodanovsti, Samokov

There were a couple of rainy half-days during our stay in Borovets, so I ventured down to the plains west of Samokov. Having taken a wrong turn I stopped by a weedy field margin just to the west of Prodanovsti and as I got out of the car was hit by a wall of bird calls and activity. There were at least three broods of recently fledged Whinchat, two broods of fledged Corn Bunting, three singing Marsh Warbler (and at least two fledged broods), a pair of Red-backed Shrikes, a brood of fledged Yellow Wagtail, singing Quail, and then I heard the distinctive song of a Common Rosefinch (the singing bird was a brown 2nd calendar year male, with a second brown bird also present). I then noticed a raptor circling, which turned out to be a Lesser Spotted Eagle. Probably nothing particularly special for Bulgaria, but for a visitor from the U.K. it was quite a shock to see what agricultural land could hold.

On further exploration of the area I encountered another singing Common Rosefinch, two male Lesser Grey Shrikes, several Ortolan Buntings and Barred Warblers, a Booted Eagle, a Garden Warbler, and plenty more Marsh Warblers etc.

Drive from Borovets to Gabrovo

On our drive north east to ZdravkovetsbGabrovo region we passed by Kayloyanovo reservoir a little north of Plovdiv. Despite not being able to stop, or even see the water, we did see 30 Collared Pratincole, 2 Roller, Isabelline Wheatear, Cattle Egret, and Marsh Harrier. On that basis, I would strongly recommend stopping at the reservoir if you have the chance!

Zdravkovets

A small and sleepy village north west of Gabrovo, I birded the immediate surrounds of village for much of the last week of our holiday. I’ve birded Zdravkovets a few times over the last 5 years, though at limited times of the year. The habitat here (woodland, arable farmland, hedges and scrub) is not wildly different from the surrounding area, though it is on a hilltop so perhaps slightly cooler and exposed than lower down the slope. It also has some spectacular cliffs on the west side of the hilltop.

It being mid July, bird activity was relatively subdued with rather little singing going on. Red-backed Shrikes were feeding large or fledged chicks along every hedge and in every patch of scrub. The sound of the visit was definitely the scolding calls of the adult shrikes as you walked the tracks and trails.

There were a couple of Golden Oriole still in song, but more often their harsh squawk was what gave away their presence. It was a similar case for Nightingale, with no singing but the whistle and churr calls commonly heard. Honey Buzzards were seen on a couple of occasions and seemed to be breeding in the area.

There seemed to be early signs of local movement or migration, with a sub-singing Olivaceous Warbler and vocal Ortolan Bunting towards the end of our stay (I hadn’t seen or heard either on the Zdravkovets plateau previously). A Black Stork and Wryneck were also patch ticks for me.

Nikolaevo Fish Ponds

I visited Nikolaevo fish ponds to the south of Gurkovo for a couple of hours on the morning of July 13, focusing on the pools and reed beds in the north east corner and the fish ponds on the western edge. The pools in the north east can be viewed from the track and bank that lead west from the parking area just over the Roman Bridge (used by the local fishermen). The large ponds to the west of the site can be viewed from the bank that runs parallel to the road between Nikolaevo and Adrevo (though note there is a drainage channel between the road and bank, so park sensibly by the track ramp leading up from the road and walk up this for viewing the ponds). The fish ponds are working so birds seem to get deliberate and accidental disturbance from much of this area. My assumption is that access into the farm itself is not permitted.

The water levels in the active fish ponds were quite high with very little exposed mud (later in the summer/ autumn likely better) and the highlights from the eastern area were three adult Whiskered Tern and three Common Sandpiper.

The pools and reed beds in the north east corner were much busier, with Great Reed Warblers calling from and feeding in pretty much every tree and bush, as well as the reed beds. The area of open rather bleak looking grassland just over the bridge held Souslik (ground squirrels) and sure enough Isabelline Wheatear were breeding there with several very recently fledged chicks still being fed, and three Long-legged Buzzard were resting on one of the banks before lifting up and drifting off to the west.

Scanning the pools themselves, there were large numbers of Coot, breeding Great Crested Grebe and Little Grebe, and in amongst the Mallard were at least two Ferruginous Duck, three Tufted Duck and three Pochard. At least two Little Bittern were watched at close range flying low over the reed beds, two Water Rail called from in the beds, two Pygmy Cormorant were feeding in the nearby pool, and four Black Stork were wading along the near-shore.

I was really impressed with the site, and only wished that it were closer to Zdravkovets so that I could visit again. During spring and autumn migration I bet it’s great. In the winter the nearby Zhrebchevo Reservoir has wintering wildfowl and has been designated an SPA, but no idea what it holds outside of winter.

Agatovo Reservoir

About 20 minutes north of Sevlievo, I visited for an hour one morning. The reservoir had been pretty much drained in order to undertake maintenance of the dam, so not much by the way of water birds- a Little Grebe and a few Mallard- and the banks were covered in scrub, so no waders either. The fields on the drive to the reservoir were dripping with Corn Bunting, with groups of 10-30 lifting up all over the place. The top end of the reservoir was also rather quiet, with three Bee-eater seemingly nesting nearby, two Hoopoe, a few Barred Warbler and Nightingale.