My father in law, Phil, works in Macedonia and since he bought his camera I have had a series of pictures emailed to me and finally took the plunge to go out there last week.
I had a brilliant bird filled time visiting a range of habitats in a really beautiful country. July is not the best of times anywhere so I was fully aware of the likelihood of passerines skulking through their moult but this was the only time of year I could get there so I snapped up the opportunity. Also working against us in July is the heat, I had arrived in a mini heatwave and it was stifling at times, many birds disappearing in the afternoon. It may seem odd saying how good a country is for birding by saying what wasn't seen but there was plenty to see despite a complete absence of warblers. In four days I saw five warblers (birds not species) and each one dived out of cover and back in without a positive id, hippo x1, phyllosc x1 and sylvia x3 is about the best I could do. I was taken to a site that had 10 pairs of subalpine warblers a couple of weeks back but there was nothing.
What I'm trying to say is that Macedonia more than deserves it's place on a Balkan tour yet seems absent from the itineraries, it was great at the hardest time of the year, May will be awesome. Great birds and great photo opportunities, my pictures on Birdguides. Phil has submitted pictures from Macedonia for the last year or so, in fact no-one else does, so some pre-date the trip but are well worth the look.
Thanks Phil.
So, in the absence of reports from this country I've gone to town, I can't remember the last essay I wrote but here goes;
Part I: Never mind the Balkans.
My flight from Manchester to Macedonia had been fairly uneventful. The journey required a change of planes in Prague and there was a delay of about half an hour setting off for Skopje. I had wondered what the first bird of the trip would be and had notions of seeing a lifer as soon as I stepped off the plane. So, on the descent into Prague I kept watch out of the window, not easy from the aisle seat but managed to see a distant white object in flight, Common Stork? It would be a lifer not counting Harewood birds but was too far to tell. I saw nothing else in the descent but at the airport I saw two birds, House Martin and Feral Pigeon. Not the start I’d dreamed of and I’d have restarted my count at Skopje had the birds been significantly more impressive but House Sparrow and Starling didn’t quite do it. On the way to Phil’s flat a White Stork circled over the motorway and swallows and house martins dashed around so I got a lifer within the first five birds.
After a quick change and packing of our rucksacks we were on the road north in the spacious luxury of an air conditioned 4x4. Our destination was the mountain Popovo Sapke (Popes Hat) above a ski resort to the north of the city of Tetovo. I don’t recall many birds on the journey up to Tetovo as we were engrossed in what had happened in the recent conflict and looking at the signs that were still evident in places. A hot afternoon reduced the number of visible birds so a bee-eater colony in a quarry along the side of the motorway and a woodpecker species that flew across in front of us were the only memorable sightings. The woodpecker was medium sized, black and white and crossed the road with an undulating flight, with no time for further detail it could have been one of five species, in the UK it would have been a great spotted, end of!
We passed through Tetovo and headed up into the mountains, common swift in the village, northern wheatear everywhere, skylark and tawny pipit in the road, a lovely pair of whinchat with young and a pair of red backed shrike. Given the number of crickets in the mountains it was no surprise to find them there. We were now at about 1800m above sea level and at the mouth of a cwm, our campsite was at the base of a cliff at the top of the cwm. It had been nice to see the temperature drop from the mid thirties of the valley bottom but we were still in the high twenties. A pair of Ring Ouzel was chattering away in a distant bush, these were the alpine subspecies with wonderful scaly breast plumage. Unfortunately it was too dark and they were too distant to get a picture so we set off to camp hoping to find another pair. Both rucksacks were crammed full, with Phil being a mountaineering type he has an image to uphold so I was grateful to help out and carry the lighter one, but with the air thinning it was hard work.
We pitched the tents at about 2000m above sea level with Black Redstart chattering away in the background, 7 Chough and 6 kestrels playing with each other on the cliff above. As night fell two Raven flew in to join the cliff roost. Cheese sandwiches and beer for supper and we then crashed out, a toilet break in the middle of the night revealed the most brilliant starlit night, clear skies and no light pollution, awesome.
As the day began to break we heard a loud call, “Pitta bread, Pitta bread “ it was saying to me, then another started. Eventually five or six Rock Partridges were calling from around the edge of the cwm, they are loud and the calls echoed around the natural theatre. The Black Redstarts were everywhere but were incredibly elusive, it was 05:00 and there was a lovely breeze but it was still warm. The Ravens departed shortly afterwards and we set off for the summit before the heat started to tell. Climbing out of the cwm we flushed a Rock Partridge which flew back down and into cover then as Phil approached the top I heard an alarm call, Ring Ouzel! I scrambled up to catch him and managed to get a couple of shots of a juvenile, Phil’s pictures are much better than mine (mental note; don’t let yourself get too far behind or you’ll miss stuff). We circled the cwm and made our way to the top of the cliff where we found both Alpine and Red-billed Chough, we had hoped for wall creeper, snow finch and alpine accentor which Phil has been seen on this cliff but the temperature was climbing and we decided to head for the summit, this was tough! Approaching the top we found a number of birds around the little snow left, wheatear, tawny pipit and dunnock. I then spotted a pair of birds feeding between the tussocks, larks, shorelarks but very odd looking with a small pale patch under the throat and a wide black necklace. Collins didn’t have this bird shown but the map displayed an isolated population in the area so this must be a Balkan subspecies. We finished the climb to the summit, about 2400m above sea level and looked northwards across spectacular views towards Kosovo. The climb had taken longer than we had expected mainly due to my frequent stops so after a nice drink of water we set off back down to the campsite with temperatures rising rapidly. More dunnocks but not their cousins, tawny pipits looking very scruffy and wheatear, then above skyline a large raptor emerged, it was circling just over the ridge that we had descended from – typical! It was a Honey Buzzard and was getting mobbed by a kestrel, ten minutes earlier we’d have had stunning views.
The remaining descent was awkward but uneventful, the south-facing cwm was becoming a cauldron and it was only 10:00 so after a short rest and some breakfast we packed up and headed for the car. More Black redstart, wheatear and linnet flitted between the rocks and the scrub but sadly no more Ring Ouzel. Once the air conditioning kicked in the car was luxury, we stopped on the way back down for Whinchat and red backed shrike. There was a possible Pallid swift in the village but I don’t like birding around peoples houses in West Yorkshire never mind the Balkans. A few miles down the road we pulled over at a restaurant for dinner, salad and coke, loads of it and to plan the rest of the day.
Great start Jim. Can't wait for the rest of the report.