Saturday 18 May 2013

Trnovski gozd, plants and Lesser Grey Shrikes

Quite busy with university at the moment. Actually today's trip to Trnovski gozd (Trnovo forest) in Slovenia was a guided excursion with our botany professor. We had a quite good weather during the day and saw a good array of rare plant species, endemics and interesting stuff, for example Primula carniolica, Primula auricula (pic above) and P. veris, Daphne cneorum, Artemisia nitida, Gentiana clusii and so on.
On the bird front the morning was quite poor with just a couple of Cuckoos singing in the forest, along with a calling Grey-headed Woodpecker, Bullfinch, Lesser Whitethroat, Rock Bunting and commoner stuff. The hedges around the village of Lokavec yielded a singing Icterine Warbler and a Common Redstart.
Primula carniolica
Primula veris
Daphne cneorum
Gentiana clusii

The afternoon was more productive with 3 nice LESSER GREY SHRIKES in the Vipava valley (see below).