October 2nd and it was back on the train for the next leg of our tour, a journey from Ljubljana to Divaca for a visit to the Skocjan caves, a vast limestone cave system and a UNESCO and RAMSAR site. The weather had turned and it was grey and wet and cool but by the time we arrived at the ticket office at the caves the rain had stopped and after emerging from the first of our underground tour of the caves (which was amazing) the sun was starting to appear from behind the clouds.
Skocjan Caves
We then had a walk around the wooded rim of the large doline (cave collapse) and I managed to find a few birds along the way including black redstarts, a serin, a grey wagtail, 2 raven, yet more willow tits and 2 male cirl buntings. A lesser spotted woodpecker called and drummed in a leafy tree but I couldn't see it but 5 crag martins flitting around with swallows gave some nice views as they rested at times on a church tower.
Skocjan Caves
Crag Martins
Cyclamen
An excellent dinner and a good nights sleep at a charming guest house near the caves was very restfull despite a massive overnight thunderstorm but a wet and grey morning prevented me from having an early morning bird walk. However by the time we were heading off on our second underground tour of the caves the rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to appear. The second tour was even more amazing, like the goblin kingdom from the film of The Hobbit, and after the tour it was back to the train station in Divaca for the journey to Pula in Croatia via Buzet.
Pula was very interesting with the highlight being the remains of the large Roman amphitheatre, the 6th largest surviving amphitheatre in the world. Being on the coast felt more like being on holiday and the weather wasn't too bad either with just 1 grey and cool day due to the Bora wind, a famous dry and cold wind that blows from the north east and goes as quickly as it comes but is good for vines and wine production. We stayed on the wooded Verudela penninsula just outside the city which was very peaceful and quiet and provided some excellent wildlife sightings.
Pula Amphitheatre
Temple of Augustus, Pula
Yellow Legged Gull, Pula
Yellow Legged Gull
Yellow Legged Gull with Shags and Black Headed Gulls
Yellow Legged Gulls
Yellow Legged Gull
Our hotel room was on the top floor with a balcony overlooking holm oaks and pines towards the sea. From the balcony I saw a few birds - a flyover yellow wagtail, 2 late flyover swifts, yellow legged gulls, a male sparrowhawk, lots of jays, blue and great tits, robins and 2 firecrest. I kept the balcony light on overnight and had a variety of moths attracted to it by the morning but I have no idea what species they are.
Balcony Sunset, Pula
Jay
Jay
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While enjoying a nice glass of Croatian wine on the balcony as we watched the sun going down on October 6th I noticed a few splashes offshore and a quick scan with my binoculars revealed a group of at least 10 bottle nose dolphins leaping out of the water and tail splashing before splitting into 2 groups and swimming off in opposite directions. Another group of at least 5 more dolphins was further out but the views even with binoculars were distant and it was all silhouetted against the setting sun before it was too dark to watch them.
I was pleased to have seen them despite the viewing conditions but the next morning on a walk along the coast path near the hotel I found at least 5 bottle nose dolphins swimming by close to shore - they were moving quickly and only showed briefly at the surface before they were gone but I was glad to have had better views of them.
Bottle Nose Dolphin
Various fishing boats were returning to the port at Pula while we were watching the dolphins and were attracting large numbers of gulls behind them as they were processing their catch and discarding bits of fish and as I scanned through them I found a few Yelkouan shearwaters amongst the gull melee. However they were distant and eventually flew off south, having either had their fill or having had enough hassle from the gulls who were chasing them at times and making them plunge into the sea to escape them.
The highlight for me though were the butterflies seen along our walks along the coast path by the hotel, flitting about the flowers on the rocky cliffs.There were walls, small whites, red admirals, painted ladies and clouded yellows along with common blues, holly blues, Langs short tailed blues, small coppers and bath whites, a new butterfly for me and like a cross between a small white and an orange tip. Also seen were colourful Italian wall lizards basking in the sun and the occasional hummingbird hawkmoth dashing by.
Wall
Clouded Yellow
Wall
Small Copper
Painted Lady
Langs Short Tailed Blue
Small Copper
Clouded Yellow - helice form
Langs Short Tailed Blue
Brown Argus
Bath White
Bath White
Common Blue
Langs Short Tailed Blue
Italian Wall Lizard
Italian Wall Lizard
October 7th and it was time to start the journey home with a flight from Pula to Zagreb, taking 40 minutes instead of the 7 hours it took in total by train. We stayed in Zagreb overnight before flying home to Heathrow and the last bird I saw for my trip list were rooks feeding with jackdaws and hooded crows in the fields on the bus ride to Zagreb airport.
And so a very successful trip indeed, much more enjoyable than I expected and with a life tick to boot. I would certainly return and would quite like to explore more of The Balkans region. We packed a lot in and I felt pleasently exhausted on my return home, having seen some good wildlife and with a trip list of 61 species of birds, not bad for a mostly city based holiday.
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