Sunday September 24th saw us heading up to Gatwick Airport for an overnight stay before flying to Tirana, the capital of Albania, the next morning. Albania was chosen as our holiday destination as it seemed to be quite an interesting country on flicking through a travel guide book and being on the Mediterranean Sea it would fill in a blank on our bucket list tour to visit all the countries with such a coastline (only Syria and Algeria to go!). The drive to Gatwick was uneventful and I managed sightings of 2 red kites along the M3, red legged partridges in fields near Stonehenge and the usual assorted roadkill.
On arriving in Tirana it was dark and raining and so after hitting the hotel bar to sample Albanian wine, Albanian beer and Albanian raki (a grappa like spirit) we slept like logs to awaken the next morning to sunny skies and stunning city and mountain views from the window of our hotel bedroom.
Albania was a very interesting place, lots of ancient history and ruins alongside some dark and sad recent times and a very untouristy feel. We spent the week in Tirana and went out on various day trips including to Durres on the coast which we ended up visiting on 3 of our 7 days in Albania - 150 Lek (£1) each and 30 minutes away by shared taxi on a fast motorway with a 2nd Century AD Roman amphitheatre and a nice promenade and beach to keep us occupied along with a chilled out atmosphere.
Skanderbeg Square,Tirana
Tirana from the Sky Bar
Durres Beach
Durres Amphitheatre
The Amphitheatre was very interesting despite being in a poor condition and provided me with some great butterfly sightings although they were very active in the hot sunshine.
Common Blue
Clouded Yellow sp.
Scarce Swallowtail
Scarce Swallowtail
Pygmy Skipper
Pygmy Skipper
Dragonfly sp.
Dragonfly sp.
Large Skipper
Wall
Mallow Skipper
Hummingbird Hawkmoth
Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper
Southern Comma
Another interesting day out was a trip up Mount Dajti overlooking Tirana on a 4+km long cable car where it was cooler and quieter than the hustle and bustle of the city we were looking down on. Again butterflies were flitting about to keep me occupied including great banded graylings, a new butterfly for me. A nice surprise were 2 wood warblers feeding in the trees with blackcaps, great tits and blue tits before disappearing amongst the leaves - I had found a birding blog on the internet before we went away and it mentioned wood warblers breeding on the mountain so the sighting wasn't totally unexpected but they were very nice to see. Also seen were a raven, nuthatches, greenfinch, chaffinch, jays, blackbirds, long tailed tits, swallows, house martins and collared doves - all very familiar birds despite the unusual setting.
Bee sp.
Hoverfly sp.
Painted Lady
Grasshopper sp.
Squill sp.?
Firebug
Meadow Brown
Crocus sp.
Firebugs
Silver Washed Fritillary
Great Banded Grayling
Great Banded Grayling
Great Banded Grayling
Great Banded Grayling
Great Banded Grayling
I did manage to drag myself out of bed early one morning to walk around the large park complete with large lake at the back of our hotel and saw some good birds - a lesser spotted woodpecker (I'd forgotten how tiny they are!), 2 probable Syrian woodpeckers (or great spotted woodpeckers) playing hide and seek in the trees and giving brief and obscured views only, kingfishers, a common sandpiper, a grey heron, grey wagtails, a male white wagtail, little grebes, lots of spotted flycatchers and there were more wood warblers giving themselves away in the treetops with their plaintive "peu" calls.
Kingfisher
Kingfisher
Spotted Flycatcher
Little Grebe
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
The highlight were 2 pygmy cormorants on the lake, easily overlooked amongst the numerous coot out on the water as they dived for fish amongst them. They were coot sized too and spent little time at the surface before flying off and out of sight but later they flew back in and landed in a dead tree at the waters edge where 3 more birds were already roosting. The views were unfortunately a little distant but they were a nice find.
Pygmy Cormorant
Pygmy Cormorants
Pygmy Cormorants
Pygmy Cormorants
On one of our days we took an organised day trip to the city of Berat, a UNESCO world heritage site and a very interesting and beautiful city. On the 2 hour drive to Berat from Tirana I managed to see bee-eaters, crested larks, Alpine swifts, hooded crows, cattle egrets and a distant harrier sp. from the car and in the castle at Berat more butterflies were flitting about including Bath whites and a stunning swallowtail. Our guide/driver Isuf had grown up in the castle at Berat and told us the tales of his childhood which really brought the place to life.
The City of Berat from the Castle
Berat
Swallowtail
After a delicious lunch at the Onufri restaurant in the castle (included in the trip) we drove on to the ruins of the ancient city of Apollonia, a massive site that is mostly unexcavated. It was very interesting with a small musueum showcasing finds from the site but needed a lot of imagination to realise the layout. The highlight for me though were 2 Hermann's tortoises busily munching away on leaves amongst the ruins and oblivious to the people around them.
Apollonia
Herrman's Tortoise
Herrman's Tortoises
Hermann's Tortoise
Hermann's Tortoise
And so it was a very enjoyable time away with a few interesting wildlife sightings despite being based in the busy, dusty, noisy capital city with busy roads and crazy drivers. All too soon it was time to head back to the UK and on the drive back to Plymouth from Gatwick on Tuesday 3rd October I managed to see 3 red kites along the A303, a nice end to our trip.
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