Czech Republic – birds and music

Prague is arguably the most beautiful city in the world, a city which has miraculously escaped development and where every building, not just an isolated few, is photogenic. Little wonder that it was chosen as the location for the filming of Amadeus. Every May in this breathtaking setting there is a feast of music - the Prague Spring Festival - with hundreds of events at over 30 venues. In addition, the three magnificent opera houses offer a selection of the world's greatest operas in the most sumptuous settings imaginable.

We'll combine the wonders of Prague with three other delightful areas in the Czech Republic. Two of these are in Bohemia: Trebon - a beautiful walled town of pastel-coloured baroque houses lost in a countryside of large lakes, oakwoods, and buttercup meadows - and the Sumava mountains and primeval forest, a border area which was closed for forty years to all but wildlife. Our third out-of-Prague location is Lednice in Moravia, an area still possessing twelve old castles (one of them will be our home for three nights), miles of unspoilt parkland, impressive monuments and the greatest concentration of bird reserves (and birds) in the former Czechoslovakia. In these areas we'll be entertained by pipes, pianos and folk ensembles rather than grand opera, but hopefully the most memorable music to our ears will be the calls and songs of Pygmy and Tengmalm's Owls, Common Rosefinch, Nightingale, Golden Oriole, and River and Marsh Warblers.

Thursday 15 May to Monday 26 May

with Bryan Bland and Patty Briggs as leaders.

Czech Republic bird list
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Day 1: The tour begins with a flight from London to Vienna, where our coach will meet us for immediate transfer over the border to the twelfth-century lake-town of Trebon. After checking in at our attractive hotel in the historic centre of the town, we'll enjoy a lakeside and woodland walk looking for woodpeckers and warblers. Trebon is an enchanting place. It is so quiet that every day seems like a Sunday afternoon. Here the familiar songs of Wood Warbler and Golden Oriole blend with those of Fieldfare and Collared Flycatcher in what is for the British birdwatcher an unfamiliar juxtaposition of west, south, north and east. Night in Trebon.

Day 2: The Trebon basin is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and an internationally important wetland. Originally covered by various kinds of wet forest, it was modified between the 14th and 16th centuries by the creation of 500 fishponds and an interconnecting network of canals. Avenues of old oaks along the fishpond dams provide excellent birding as the various passerines move along with the walker. Our pre-breakfast walk here should provide us with White Stork, Syrian, Grey-headed and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers and Icterine Warbler - plus a range of associated wildlife from Roe Deer to Camberwell Beauty. After breakfast we'll walk around Velky and Maly Tisy (two of the best lakes) to look for grebes, ducks, waders, crakes, Bluethroat, Penduline Tit, and River and Savi's Warblers. In the afternoon we'll drive to a series of sites for Black Kite, Black Stork, and various woodpeckers. In the evening we'll enjoy a private concert, if possible in the castle, by the Pipers of Trebon, whose very varied programme will include Czech and European gothic, renaissance and baroque music; South Bohemian folk songs; pop-evergreens and jazz standards. Night in Trebon.

Day 3: More pre-breakfast birding around Trebon, followed by a drive and short walks for Red-crested Pochard, White-tailed Eagle and Black Woodpecker. In the evening we'll go out amid the stands of wetland pine to look for Woodcock, Tengmalm's and Pygmy Owls, and Nightjar. Night in Trebon.

Day 4: After more birding around Trebon, we'll drive to the amazing fairy-tale town and castle of Cesky Krumlov, a place that settled down to sleep somewhere around the Renaissance and then forgot to wake up. Here we'll enjoy a specially-commissioned piano recital by Vlastimil and Vera Lejsek. This will include Dvorák's 'From Sumava' Suite (op. 68, also known as 'From the Bohemian Forest') - pieces he composed while walking in the very areas awaiting us. Night near Volary in the Sumava mountains (with birding from our hotel balconies).

Day 5: The whole day will be spent birding in the Sumava mountains and primeval forest, undisturbed for forty years. Specialities include Black Grouse and Corncrake, while other highlights in previous years have included Lesser Spotted Eagle, Ural Owl, Three-toed Woodpecker, and Common Rosefinch. Night near Volary.

Day 6: We'll continue birding in the mountains, forests, meadows, and peatbogs where Hazel Grouse, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Firecrest, Crested Tit, and Great Grey Shrike are all possible, before heading for Prague and a change of emphasis, with orchestral concerts, ballet, or grand opera the order of the day (or rather, evening - today being no exception). Night by the beautiful and bird-rich Pruhonice Park, near Prague.

Day 7: There will be time for pre-breakfast birding in Pruhonice Park, but to experience fully the wonders of Prague we'll spend most of the day on a private guided tour of the city, leaving time in the afternoon for rest and refreshment before we go to another one of the three stunningly elegant opera houses. Night in Pruhonice, Prague.

Day 8: In the morning there will be more birding or more sightseeing and some free time, before maybe an afternoon concert in the Klementinum Palace or at the House of the Stone Bell (possibly with works by Mozart, Vivaldi, Purcell, Dvor‡k and Jan‡cek) and another breathtaking evening at the opera or in the concert hall. Night in Pruhonice, Prague.

Day 9: After more pre-breakfast birding in Pruhonice Park, we'll set off for the spectacularly photogenic town of Telc where we'll have lunch. We'll then continue on to Brno where we'll have a private visit to Janácek's home (and, if they are in the country, a recital by the Janácek Quartet in the very room where he composed his greatest works) before continuing to our hotel near Lednice, where we should awake to the songs of Golden Orioles and Nightingales.

Day 10: Lednické Rybnicky is an area of large fishponds in an extensive castle park with many old trees. A walk here should produce a range of birds from Wryneck and Black Woodpecker to Red-crested Pochard and Great Reed Warbler. We'll probably picnic at the nearby Pastvisko reserve, where in past years we have seen Bittern, Honey-Buzzard, Penduline Tit, and Grasshopper Warbler, before looking for Bee-eater, Barred Warbler, and Corn Bunting at Pouzdrany or maybe even Hoopoe in the Milovice Forest. Night near Lednice.

Day 11: The celebrated Ride of the Kings at Vlcnov takes place every year on the last Sunday in May. A feast for the eye and for the ear alike, this living folk tradition (rather than a tourist event) includes children in national costume, gaily decorated horses, numerous folk ensembles, exhibitions, and cultural events. In the evening we'll enjoy a meal and wine-tasting in the atmospheric Mikulov cellars, carved into the mountain, to the exciting sounds of authentic Czech folk music from a group which we have commissioned for several years now, including wonderful cymbalon playing and a quite brilliant violinist. Night near Lednice.

Day 12: After a final morning of birdwatching - hopefully in the Soutok flood plain looking at Red and Black Kite, Honey-Buzzard, Saker, and Imperial Eagle - and a picnic lunch in Southern Moravia, we'll cross the border and return to Vienna airport, only one hour's drive away, where we'll catch a flight back to London.

Cost £2360

(includes good tickets for all operas and concerts)

Single Room Supplement £190

Maximum group size: 16 participants and 2 leaders.

Czech Republic bird list
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