Poland 2002

Poland bird list
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Day 1: Our morning flight from London to Warsaw arrived at 10.25 allowing plenty of time for the journey south to the Carpathian foothills. We met Przemek our guide and Adolf our driver. We stopped for lunch north of Lublin and carried on to the first of many sites that Przemek had up his sleeve. No sooner had we got out of the bus than we were looking up at a roosting Long-eared Owl. A short walk around this area produced another owl, Great White Egret and other common Polish countryside birds such as Hawfinch and Black Redstart. We arrived at our hotel in Przemysl at 19.30.

Day 2: A pre-breakfast walk across the road from our hotel brought us in contact with a wide range of wonderful birds - in fact we spent 15 minutes on the roadside next to the hotel looking at Hawfinch, Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher. When we did tear ourselves away from the first tree, we saw Golden Oriole, Thrush Nightingale, Marsh Warbler and River Warbler. After breakfast we visited an area for Syrian Woodpeckers where we also saw our first Grey-headed Woodpeckers before moving on to the beautiful Eagle Valley. Here we saw several Lesser Spotted Eagles, Red-backed Shrikes and a couple of Corncrakes. Heading further south to the far south-eastern corner of Poland we saw our first Nutcracker and a small flock of Crossbills. In the early evening we searched for Ural Owl but unfortunately, only the people in the very front of the bus managed very brief flight views. Before we returned for the night, we all heard a Ural Owl calling but too far away to attempt to see.

Day 3: A walk from our hotel situated deep in the Bieszczady National Park allowed us to see both Dipper and Collared Flycatcher before breakfast. Later we explored the nearby forests where we saw another Nutcracker, Willow Tit and our first Honey Buzzard, displaying giving its distinctive wing claps - a wonderful sight! Later we saw more Collared Flycatchers and a Black Stork before returning for dinner. In the evening we explored the nearby forests where we saw the first Woodcock of the trip.

Day 4: Heading north towards Przemysl, we stopped off at a Bee-eater colony where five birds performed for us. The grounds of Sieniawa Palace provided us with Wryneck, Green Woodpecker, Wood Warbler and an elusive Icterine Warbler.

Our first wetland stop of the trip was to one of many fishponds dotted throughout eastern Poland. Here we saw breeding Red-necked Grebe, Great Reed Warbler, Penduline Tit and a flock of Black Terns. We had more time at our last stop of the day near our hotel and saw Black-necked Grebe, Garganey, Whiskered Tern and both Little Bittern and Bittern (the latter rather briefly). But the real treat of the day was just as we were leaving the site when a female Red-footed Falcon approached the front of the bus and flew alongside catching a dragonfly.

Day 5: We started by visiting some large nearby lakes where we saw two more, very distant Red-footed Falcons, Ruff, Wood Sandpiper and three Caspian Gulls, before stopping off to look for Spotted Suslik - (the only breeding area for this mammal in Europe). Only brief views were managed probably due to the hot conditions. Much more confiding were the small number of European Tree Frogs resting on reed stems. Heading further north, Przemek took us to an area for Barred Warbler where we saw one singing in the company of a Red-backed Shrike - just like the Collins field guide suggests they do! After a short rest in our hotel in Chelm we visited nearby Gotowka Marsh beating the impending rain (just!) to see singing Aquatic and Savi's Warblers, Marsh, Montagu's and Hen Harriers and our first Crane of the trip - well it's head poking out of the reeds anyway.

Day 6: Our first stop today were some roadside fishponds where we heard Little Crake. Next were Siemien fishponds - a massive site where we saw Little Gull, nesting Penduline Tit and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. After lunch we drove north to the River Bug where we saw Woodlark well, Crested Lark badly and several species of Butterfly including Sooty Copper and Glanville Fritillary. We then drove to the main forest area into our new hotel in Bialoweiza which was to be our base for the next few days.

Day 7: We had an early start to visit the forest core area this morning meeting our guide at 5am. This special area has been studied since 1920 when management ended. Here we saw both White-backed, Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, and Collared Flycatcher before breakfast called! The rest of the day was spent exploring various areas of the forest where perhaps the highlight was catching up with a Black Woodpecker after several failed attempts. This fantastic bird was kind enough to perch on a dead tree and remove about half a square metre of bark as it searched for grubs. Certainly a view that will stay with us all for a long time. Here too were nesting Lesser Spotted and White-backed Woodpeckers. Later we found the nesting hole of Middle Spotted Woodpecker with a Treecreeper's nest in the bark beneath it.

Day 8: After an early morning walk where we saw Crested Tit, we headed north to Siemianowka Lake. During the day we saw an excellent variety of birds, particularly wildfowl and waders but also White-tailed Eagle, Black Stork, Citrine Wagtail and a pair of Rollers. Returning to the forest mid-afternoon we finally saw our tenth species of Woodpecker, Three-toed.

Day 9: Before leaving the forest we visited an area to see Red-breasted Flycatcher - a species which we had managed to avoid seeing so far! We then stopped at more fishponds where we saw Slavonian Grebe, Whooper Swan with cygnets and White-tailed Eagle. Following our traditional Polish lunch, most of us braved the light rain for a punt trip into the Narew marshes - it stopped raining eventually but a few of us were a little damp! Later, we arrived in the Biebrza Marshes and visited a couple of viewpoint areas before arriving at the famous Great Snipe area at Barwick. Here, we managed to hear and see at least two Great Snipe in-between tussocks of grass. On the route home a few at the front of the bus managed to see a mammal run across the road looking like a large stoat but with a bushy tail - a Beech Martin - not the best of views but a very hard mammal to see nonetheless.

Day 10: Today we stopped off at various places around the massive Biebrza marshes. We had various target species including Ortolan Buntings and Bluethroat both of which were singing for us. At our lunch stop, we saw a good range of waders including some spectacular Ruff, ten Temminck's Stint and plenty of marsh terns. A Peregrine stormed in at one stage and put all the birds up. Later we searched for Spotted Eagle thankfully Stuart found one flying fairly close. While watching for the eagles, we saw two confiding Grey-headed Woodpeckers, and a fly over Black Woodpecker. Eventually, by the skin of our teeth, we managed to see a Common Rosefinch. We had heard several of these in the last few days but had yet to actually see one. Fortunately, one perched just long enough for us all to see through about ten trees! As the sun went down we spent an hour enjoying the sights and sounds of the marshes with marsh terns, Redshanks, Snipe, godwits, and Curlews calling all around us.

Day 11: Our early afternoon flight gave us time to visit the old part of Warsaw in search of souvenirs before heading to the airport. Our flight from Warsaw landed at London Heathrow airport at 16.30.

Bird List

This is a list of all the species seen during the last eight tours to Poland combined with a list of the species seen on the last tour.

Column A = Number of tours this species has been recorded on.
Column B = Number of days this species was seen on the last tour.
Column C = Maximum daily count for this species on the last tour.

H = Heard only
(H) = Mostly heard but some seen
N = Nesting evident

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