December 3rd to 18th 2005

The sandy beaches of the Northern Black Sea coast of Bulgaria are a major tourist area attracting holiday makers from Western Europe. Travel agencies in the U.K. offer package deals throughout the year, which include flights and accommodation. For the bird photographer it offers a cheap deal and a week or two of easy car window photography. 

Calandra lark

We stayed at the Albena Resort in the Hotel Dobrudja from the 24^th April until May 7^th 2004. The package deal included a coach journey from Varna airport to the hotel. The Albena Resort is a large complex accessed through a security barrier manned 24 hours a day. Once inside there are many hotels, swimming pools, shops, markets and all the usual essentials for a happy holiday, including the sandy beach. For most it would be unnecessary to stroll outside into the real Bulgaria.

The deal cost us £400 per person for two weeks including the flight and a hotel room each. No single supplement so why share rooms! Breakfast and evening meal were included in the price.

Red-backed shrike

Car hire was a bit problematic as we booked it in advance through the same travel agency and it should have been delivered to our hotel on the first morning, but didn’t show up.

An easy problem to solve you would think, but it took half a day and we ended up renting from a local car hire company instead. It was however half the cost of the original deal so we were not too upset. The company was called Rent-A-Car and I have two telephone numbers for them. 088/866 72 55 and 098/781 350, but no address. The hotel had to make the call for us as they did not speak much English. The cost was £211 for 13 days in a Volkswagen Passet with unlimited mileage and full insurance. They do not have a web site or email so contacting them in advance might be a bit awkward. I could find no local car hire companies for Bulgaria on the web before we went.

Stone curlew

We had two birdwatcher site guides with us, Gostours Finding Birds in Bulgaria  by Dave Gosney and Where to Watch Birds in Bulgaria by Peter Lankov. As ever they best serve the birdwatcher and not the photographer, but I always take them.

All the best sites proved to be north of Albena, so although we explored south as far as Burgas we found little of interest for photography. In the Albena resort shops a small map was available called Northern Black Sea Coast by Cartographia Ltd. It was detailed enough to find all the sites we visited and is essential.

Squacco heron

Leaving the Albena security gate the main road is reached at a large traffic island. The second exit is the main road north (E87) and we usually went this way, although taking the first exit brings you back to the main road after passing through the small town of Balcik. Useful if looking for shops where prices for basic supplies are cheaper than within the resort. I always have a good supply of mineral water, biscuits and bananas in the car.

Assuming you have taken the main road (2^nd exit from the island) you climb up a winding hill past the village of Obrociste. Just after the top of the climb the remains of an old airfield can be seen on the left. This is page 30 of the Gosney guide. The Mig fighters mentioned in the guide are no longer there, but it is an obvious airfield. We did not drive in as there was a barrier across the gate and I am not keen on entering military sites with a camera even if they are abandoned, but down the right hand side was a very long track that eventually leads to a stone quarry and another country lane. The track serves as a very good introduction to the birds of the area and we got some good wood and calandra lark pictures here from the car window. We also almost got red footed falcon, which were plentiful, but wary.

Corn bunting

Carrying on along the main road (E87) northwards brings you to a right turn signposted Topola and the White Lagoon. This is not in either of the site guides, but worth a visit. Take this turning and the road follows the coast around and before you reach the White Lagoon (which is another holiday resort) you will see a white dirt track running along the hillside below you. It is very obvious. The entrance to this very long track is on the left. It is a bit rough in places, but we got good woodlark here as well as shrikes and almost did nightingale. Bee-eaters were just arriving on territory and I suspect they breed in the cliffs here.

The best sites of all are a bit further along the E87 outside of the town of Kavarna. Leave the E87 and head into town. From the centre take the turn to Balgarevo, which is to the south-east of Kavarna. Note that the maps are not drawn the correct way up, but the route is obvious. Between Kavarna and Balgarevo on the right hand side is an area of steppe grassland. This was where we spent most of our time and we photographed calandra lark, crested lark, skylark, corn bunting, stone curlew, golden plover, red-backed shrike and lesser grey-backed shrike all from the car.

Carry on towards the cape at Kaliakra and there is an even larger expanse of grassland on the left immediately you leave the village of Balgarevo. The same birds can be found here, plus a colony of bee-eaters that should be easy to photograph when they are feeding young. The colony is opposite the huge radio pylons on the right hand side of the road and is in the banks of two large earth mounds about 500 metres in from the road. Difficult to miss.

The other area we found to be excellent was on the road from Balgarevo to Sveti Nikolap. At Sveti Nikola turn right towards Rusalka and just before the coast turn left onto a dirt track that runs parallel to the sea. Much the same species here, but we probably got our best stone curlew and calandra larks here as well as pied wheatear. Other possibilities were cuckoo, hobby, quail and nightjar. They were all there and we got some pictures.

Woodlark

Another site mentioned in the guide books is Lake Sabla not far short of the border with Romania up the E87. Following the road map, leave the town of Sabla heading towards the coast at North Sabla. Just after leaving the outskirts of Sabla take a left turn towards the lake. The wooded area marked on the map is actually on the other side of the road, but foreign maps are often inaccurate. There is only one place we found photography possible and that is by turning left on this approach road and going through the trees. There are a couple of possible entrance tracks. The water can be approached by car here. Following the map in the Gosney guide this means turning left before the gate that appears almost centrally on page 5. Here we did good squacco and purple heron, ruff, wood sandpiper and swallows. I suspect lapwing might have been possible a week earlier too as they may have breed here. I am sure other waders will be present from time to time. 

Just slightly further north is Lake Durankulak, which is also mentioned in the guide books and is worth a visit although we got nothing here except squacco heron. On another day flight shots of black and white-winged black turns might have been possible. Savi’s warbler were singing in the dryer reed beds and I did manage to stalk them on foot (they are usually stalkable), but never got a clean shot through the reedbeds. Best approach was from the sea shore into the reeds.

All told Bulgaria is worth a visit. I would like to see other parts of it too. Like most of Eastern Europe it is bird rich and the land wide open with few access problems. A winter visit to see if the red-breasted geese are photographable would be good too.