I spent most of the current week in Slovenia for university field work. Despite the bad weather (except yesterday) it was a good couple of days, stuffed with excellent wildlife sightings and a very long list of plants.
Three days were spent on the Cerknica lake, where botany was once again the main focus. The absolute highlight here was seeing a flock of 14
BLACK STORKS soaring above the lake together with an adult
WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. I've never seen such a numerous flock of Black Storks and I presume it's a quite rare sight in Slovenia.
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| Black Storks Ciconia nigra & White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla (bottom right) - a documentative, phone-binning shot. |
A night trip around the lake to listen to
CORNCRAKES (4-5 singing males) also produced a booming
BITTERN, which was very cool to hear. Other commoner birds seen during our stay included:
Hobby, Tree Pipit, Black Woodpecker, Yellowhammer, Cuckoo, Golden Oriole, Wryneck,
Quail, Yellow and Grey Wagtail, Sedge and Marsh Warbler, Common Whitethroat,
Garden Warbler,
Fieldfare, White Stork.
A speleological visit to the interior of Planinska jama (Planina's cave) gave us the opportunity to see in the wild the most charismatic of all Dinaric endemisms and the largest cave-dwelling vertebrate: the
OLM (Proteus anguinus).
Out of the cave, a nice
Dipper was seen on the river Unica.
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| Iris pseudacorus |
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| Wet meadow with Lychnis flos-cuculi |
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| Orchis palustris |
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| Morimus funereus - a large beetle from the Cerabycidae family |
Yesterday we visited the Triglav National Park, more precisely the Trenta valley. A female
WALLCREEPER was the most unexpected and thrilling sight of the day. It remained on view for several minutes, performing on the cliffs overlooking a large waterfall.
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| Wallcreeper Tichodroma muraria - pic by Martin Senič |
At least 3
Dippers were seen along the emerald-coloured river Soča, where also the rare and localised
Marble Trout (Salmo marmoratus) was seen.
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| River Soča's source - this year with an exceptional amount of water |
Western Bonelli's Warblers were commonly heard and seen in the wooded areas, while
Crag Martins were flying overhead and several
Common Redstarts were singing in the small villages. Here I also saw my first Spotted Flycatchers of the year. The upland slopes of the Vršič pass held also a
Ring Ouzel, several Dunnocks, Bullfinches and a Lesser Whitethroat. Three
Alpine Ibexes (Capra ibex) added a bit of characteristic alpine atmosphere to the day, as did the hundreds of interesting wildflowers around the valley and on the Vršič pass. Quite interesting was the visit to the Juliana Alpine Botanical Garden where some rare and exciting plants are cultivated (for example the
Cypripedium calceolus below).
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| Soldanella alpina |
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| Soldanella minima |
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| Pinguicula alpina |
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| Rhodothamnus chamaecistus |
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| Primula auricula |
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| Phyteuma orbiculare |
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| Paederota lutea |
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| Viola biflora |
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| Cypripedium calceolus in the Juliana Alpine Botanical Garden |
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| View on the mountains from the Trenta valley |
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| View from the Vršič pass |
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| Vršič pass (1611 m) |
As usual for a good day, a singing
Tawny Owl at night was the perfect way to round up the trip.
xx.JPG)
