Birdwatch, UK, 2003

world of birds

week’s birding in The Crimea with Biosphere Expeditions, “a non-profitmaking organisation offering hands-on wildlife conservation expeditions as an adventure with a purpose” – surely an irresistible temptation to such as myself. To be strictly accurate, the trip was not to the Crimean Peninsula, but to a smaller peninsula to the north-west known as the Kinburn Peninsula. Never having been to Ukraine before, however, I was excited by the prospect of what lay ahead, even if I had to make my own way to Kiev. Here I was to meet four non-birding participants before travelling by overnight train to a town called Nikolayev, just north of the Black Sea. I set off on 31 August and finally arrived in Kiev to check into a hotel that was for all the world like something out of a John Le Carré novel. My new companions and I spent a very pleasant day wandering around Kiev, a lovely city with some beautiful churches. Next came a 13-hour train journey to Nikolayev, where we were picked up by expedition leader Dr Matthias Hammer. On the ensuing

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four-hour Land Rover trip we enjoyed European Rollers on telephone wires and Crested and Calandra Larks by the roadside. A Bittern flew low over a reedbed, we stopped to watch a juvenile Purple Heron trying to eat a snake and we sped past half a dozen juvenile Red-necked Phalaropes on a roadside pool. Then, 52 hours after leaving my home in Bristol, I arrived at the summer house that was to be our base.

The Kinburns’ka Kosa Regional Landscape Park covers 18,000 hectares and consists of a mosaic of steppe, 250 fresh and saline lakes and huge conifer woods planted to stabilise the sand. It was soon obvious that the place was alive with birds. A walk to the beach produced a very tame juvenile Rednecked Grebe but, scanning farther out, I could hardly believe my eyes: the sea was covered in Blacknecked Grebes. A rough count revealed some 2,000 and subsequent counts suggested about 5,000 were along the western shore of the peninsula.

Two other species were similarly abundant. I have never seen so many Cormorants, and every morning and evening huge flocks flew to and from their roosts – I was told there were about 12,000 in the area. The other species, however, was much more of a surprise: look at a field guide and you’ll see Common Eider does not occur in the Black

Sea. Really?! The truth is that in 1975 a single pair appeared in the area and since then numbers have risen to 10,000. During our visit, small moulting flocks were dotted along the shoreline. Add to these thousands of Sandwich Terns, hundreds of Common Terns and more Caspian Gulls than you could shake a stick at, and I was in my element. I spent ages scrutinising the latter, much to the amusement of my new friends, who couldn’t understand why I had come all this way to look at seagulls.

Hot stuff The Tuesday produced one of the most awesome spectacles I have ever witnessed. About lunchtime the cook came in muttering something about a forest fire; I didn’t think much of it until I strolled outside to see what all the fuss was about. I was confronted by the awesome sight of a huge cloud of smoke – and I mean huge – billowing into the atmosphere. Below this was a wall of flame several hundred yards in length. Luckily, there was about half a mile of open ground between us and the fire, and the wind was not blowing in our direction, but the speed at which the flames moved through the trees was staggering. As luck would have it, one of my companions was a German fireman called Benedikt: at least I was in good hands. I asked him what he would do if

Crimean tour George Reszeter

Birdwatch ID guru KEITH VINICOMBE jumped at the chance to test his skills on a birding expedition to Ukraine but found the action a little more explosive than he had been hoping for. Neverthless, he returned to the UK a wiser, stronger man – as well as half a stone lighter.

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This picture: Calandra Lark is a common bird in Ukraine. Since its independence from Russia, a lot of formerly intensively farmed land has fallen out of production. The resulting mix of farmed and semi-natural habitats is certain to have allowed particular bird populations to expand. Perhaps this helps explain the recent increase in the number of Calandra Larks reaching the UK.

Keith Vinicombe

Robin Chittenden

world of birds

or Ortolan Buntings, for example, while another bird mysteriously absent was Mediterranean Gull. Again from the field guides, Ukraine would seem to be the epicentre of the world’s breeding population, but Petro told me there had been a population crash during the last 10 years. This got me thinking about the recent spread of the species into western Europe – was the westerly movement prompted by problems in the Black Sea? Were we witnessing a population shift rather than a population expansion? If we were, then the conservation value of our new colonies takes on much greater significance.

Caught short It was interesting talking to locals about the birds of the area. There were up to 1,700 Great Crested Grebes and a staggering 13,000 Mute Swans, while White Pelicans have increased to the point where fishermen are complaining about their impact on fish stocks – the current late-summer peak is 4,500. I was also told that under the old Soviet system about three-quarters of the country had been under the plough, regardless of whether food was needed or

Above left: anything goes in Ukraine. From the gaudily-coloured jeep to the bizarre costume worn by the fellow standing on top of it, birding convention is discarded.

Above: a juvenile Red-necked Grebe was one of the first birds to greet Keith on the trip.

Below: enticing habitat at Kinburns’ka Kosa. whether the land was actually suitable for arable farming. Since independence a lot of this land has fallen out of production, so there is now more of a mosaic of farmed and semi-natural habitats which must surely have had a beneficial effect on bird populations. Could this explain, for example, the recent upsurge in vagrant Calandra Larks in Britain?

Turning to rarer birds, I learnt that about 1,000 Demoiselle Cranes gather in late August at the Sea of Azov (at the base of the Crimean Peninsula) and that a recent survey found some 4,300 Great Bustards wintering on The Crimea, with flocks of up to 1,000 birds (Branta 1: 92-102 and 3: 101-107). But most intriguingly of all, Slender-billed Curlews have been reported from the area in recent years,

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Keith Vinicombe

faced with a fire like this in Germany. “Run like hell!” he replied.

Later that afternoon, I finally arrived at the ‘bird camp’ – a series of tents towards the southern end of the peninsula occupied by Ukrainian ringer Petro Gorlov, who was engaged in a long-term study of migrating birds. My task would be to extract birds from a series of mist-nets and then help with their processing. The problem was, there was little (‘no’ would be more accurate) training. I have been around birds all my life and am used to handling them, but I simply could not get the hang of pulling the little so-and-sos out of the nets.

Consequently, and embarrassingly, I was relegated to the role of scribe. Nevertheless, the experience was fascinating and we caught 260 birds of 16 species over the three-and-a-half days I was there.

The commonest bird was Red-breasted Flycatcher (73 caught), followed by Spotted Flycatcher (41), Willow Warbler and Red-backed Shrike (both 30) and Wood Warbler (17). To be honest, I had expected more variety; for example there were no Marsh or Barred Warblers, although we did catch three Thrush Nightingales, three Icterine Warblers and a Collared Flycatcher. One of the Thrush Nightingales weighed an astonishing 41 g, almost twice the normal weight.

When released, it just about managed to keep above the level of the grass before nose-diving into a distant bush. It was amazing to think that at that weight it could probably make it all the way to East Africa without refuelling. Interestingly, about a week after I arrived back in the UK, the same mix of species started to arrive on the east coast. They were obviously part of the same movement, only moving in the wrong direction.

Other migration was disappointing. Raptors included a few Marsh and Montagu’s Harriers, Ospreys, Red-footed Falcons and Hobbies, but there was no real passage as such. I had been hoping for Levant Sparrowhawks, or maybe even a Saker or a White-tailed Eagle (the latter breeds in the area).

Small flocks of European Bee-eaters passed regularly overhead, but visual passerine migration was thin: a few hirundines, Tawny Pipits and flava wagtails, but that was about it. There were no Red-throated Pipits

BIRDWATCH APRIL 2003

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White Terns, also known as Fairy Terns, are probably the most inquisitive of Midway’s avian inhabitants.

Keith Vinicombe

Keith Vinicombe

world of birds

one indeed by the park warden who gave me a convincing account of one he had seen.

The ringing duties meant I was tied to the hourly net rounds, but on the Thursday afternoon I managed to a take a walk to the southernmost point of the peninsula. Here were large flocks of Mute Swans, ducks and Coots, numerous Little and Great White Egrets, many common waders and a few White Pelicans and Caspian, Black and White-winged Black Terns. Among the flocks of Black-headed, Slenderbilled and Caspian Gulls I found the one bird I most wanted to see: Great Black-headed Gull. Looking more closely, I realised there were 19 of these impressive birds standing on the point. My excitement, however, was tempered by the fact I was starting to feel slightly odd.

By the time I got back to the tent, I was exhausted. I lay on my back, zapped of all energy, hardly able to move until suddenly I was up and running. But there were no toilets! I made a bee-line for the Below: Great Black-headed Gull, the bird Keith most wanted to see in Ukraine.

nearest bush, grabbing the spade on the way. Like something from a speeded-up cartoon, I dug a hole in the sand and, well, you can imagine the rest. As if this wasn’t enough, the whole time I was squatting with trousers around my ankles the mosquitoes were biting my . . . let’s just say the only part of the anatomy that cannot be slapped. This excruciating ritual was to dominate my life for the next two days, at approximately one-hour intervals.

My state had worsened by the Friday afternoon and, after two days without food, I risked a packet of crisps – only to pebbledash the outside of the shower five minutes later. I had a more serious problem, however: on the Saturday morning I was due to leave for home, a journey involving a bus, a ferry, another bus, an eight-hour wait at a train station, a 13-hour train journey, a day wandering around Kiev, a taxi, a plane, another bus and another taxi. It was time to do some straight talking: “Look, Matthias, there must be a reasonable chance that at some point in this journey I’m going to have an accident.” I must say Matthias was absolutely brilliant: he gave me quadruple doses of every block-me-up tablet known

Above: “I couldn’t get the hang of pulling the little so-and-sos out of the nets” – Thrush Nightingale (left) and Red-backed Shrike. to medical science, and it worked. But only as far as the train station. I’ll spare you the details, except to say I arrived home half a stone lighter.

The trip had certainly been an adventure, but obviously my experience was tainted by the fact I had been so ill. The area was excellent for birds, but rather than concentrating on ringing I would have preferred to have spent more time doing census work or just plain birding. Biosphere Expeditions is a professional and well-run organisation – it was not its fault I had been so ill – but its expeditions are just that: this is not a bird tour company. I’m sure that in years to come, travelling to the Black Sea coast of Ukraine will not be such a drawn-out, arduous affair.

There is much to be seen in the area and it was fascinating to witness bird migration on the other side of the continent, but for the foreseeable future I think it will remain very much a destination for the more adventurous and independent traveller. ■

Biosphere Expeditions

Richard Brooks

The organisation offers wildlife expeditions around the globe, most trips involving birds.

Ukraine will be visited again in AugustSeptember 2003, while an expedition to the Altai Mountains in July-August will concentrate on Snow Leopards as well as bird censusing and netting. You don’t need to be a scientist or have any qualifications, and you can spend from two weeks to several months with the group. You will pay a contribution and cover the cost of your flight. Twothirds of the contribution – it varies from £990 for two weeks in Ukraine to £1,100 for the Altai Mountains – will go to the project.

For further information, tel: 01502 583085; email: info@biosphere-expeditions.org; website: www.biosphere-expeditions.org

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BIRDWATCH APRIL 2003