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| Phone-scoped Cirl Bunting Emberiza cirlus at 60x |
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| Snow-covered Mt. Nanos today |
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| Saturnia pavoniella |
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| Coronilla emerus ssp. emeroides (left) and Euphorbia wulfenii (right) on the patch's cliffs |
A few updates from the past couple of days. Saturday morning started with the first singing
WILLOW WARBLER of the spring in the garden...later joined by a second bird. During the morning I visited the Glinščica valley/Val Rosandra where I found the above moth -
Saturnia pavoniella. Never seen one of those before. On the non-bird front also 2 quite big Fire Salamanders
Salamandra salamandra were of note. At least 3
Blue Rock Thrushes were singing, including one that performed well close to the main path. Other birds there included a few
Rock Buntings, 3 Grey Wagtails along the Glinščica stream, 1
House Martin on passage and commoner birds. In the afternoon I made a quick visit to the cliffs in the patch, where the year's first
ALPINE SWIFT was the highlight. The area is now covered with the yellow-flowering
Euphorbia wulfenii and
Coronilla emerus.
Today in the early afternoon I went for a stroll under the rain at Škocjanski zatok NR. Despite the bad weather conditions (including a south wind) 2
Little Gulls were of note, along with good numbers of
Swallows over the freshwater marsh (about 100 birds). Other birds included 1
Black-tailed Godwit, 1
Ruff, 1 female
Marsh Harrier, 1
Lapwing, 3-4
Black-winged Stilts and the more usual species. The late afternoon was spent under almost clear and sunny skies on the Karst with a good variety of common grassland species like Cirl Bunting, Woodlark & Skylark, Stonechat, Corn Bunting, Linnet and Raven.
