Destinations
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Wallcreepers
Four times we've struck lucky with this wonderful bird in Bulgaria – on two visits in both September and June.
Wallcreeper (Svetoslav Spasov)
Good ways of seeing wallcreepers are to know a nest site, or in winter find a smaller but regular cliff haunt. In September, you need patience or luck.
September 2008. On my recce trip to Bulgaria, Assen and I tried patience at Assen’s favourite place in Trigrad Gorge, but without success. Then we were lucky. In the lower reaches of the gorge there was a wallcreeper on the road of all places, struggling with a moth. It went onto a low rock face – see picture, right – giving wonderful views, from where it dropped a hummingbird hawk-moth that tumbled to the road.
September 2009. Honeyguide's first Bulgaria group also struck lucky – or perhaps saying luck does an injustice to Assen's local knowledge and Trigrad Gorge's credentials. Honeyguide leader Tim Strudwick takes up the story (or read the full report here):
"Our destination today was Trigrad gorge, just a few kilometres away. After a short drive, Dencho (our driver) dropped us off by the entrance to a road tunnel. Here we stood deep in the shade of towering limestone cliffs with the Trigrad river roaring below us. Our main target at this site was wallcreeper which, Assen explained, had nested earlier in the year just a few feet above where we stood.
"As we scanned the towering cliff faces, a black woodpecker called then flew across the gorge before landing out of sight. Peregrine, crag martin and swifts were all seen flying above. Before long, a wallcreeper was spotted on a distant rock face. A short walk through the road tunnel brought us much closer, and over the next hour we enjoyed very close views of this juvenile bird as it flitted around the rock face above us. A second wallcreeper was eventually spotted on the opposite cliff face, then a third, and possibly a fourth, nearby. Superb views of this elusive species provided an excellent start to the day."
Juvenile wallcreeper (Assen Ignatov)
June 2010. Another good view in Trigrad gorge. See front cover picture and account in the holiday report here.
June 2011: success again ...
"A male wallcreeper came and gave insects to the female and we had very
close views just a few metres above us." More and pictures in the holiday report here.
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We admit to mixed fortunes with wallcreepers in the Pyrenees. One year in the Spanish Pyrenees I rashly said, near the start of a holiday "We always see lammergeier and never see wallcreeper." You can guess what happened: no lammergeier that year, but a wallcreeper in Aísa valley. But they do sometimes show - see right. We had an excellent site for wallcreepers in the French Pyrenees in some old mine buildings, but they are now demolished. So we recommend Bulgaria as Honeyguide's top choice for wallcreepers.
Back to nature notes Chris Durdin, December 2009, last updated Jan 2012
Photos on this page, apart from one by Honeyguider Malcolm Crowder, are by our Bulgarian hosts and friends from Neophron
Trigrad Gorge (Dimiter Georgiev)
Wallcreeper (Assen Ignatov)
The regular wallcreeper watching point in Trigrad Gorge (Malcolm Crowder)
Juvenile wallcreeper (Assen Ignatov). Assen's pictures were taken that morning with the Honeyguide group.
Read about:
· an encounter with wallcreepers in Istria, in northern Croatia, here
· in Romania's Dambovicioara Gorge here
· in the Spanish Pyrenees in May 2011 here ... and in this extract by Chris Gibson below:
"For the next ten minutes we got the works – feeding, flicking and flying, showing its unique plumage and jizz to advantage. Our elation was only heightened when on our return a butterfly with a similar charisma rating – the Camberwell beauty – flew along the forest ride over our heads."
