Trip reports

Austria & Croatia: June 2003

Jeremy Barker

Broad-bodied Chaser Libellula depressa

Introduction

This was a summer tour around Austria, cleaning up a few birds that SG particularly wanted to see, then a 10-day trip to Croatia, along the coast, returning inland. Effectively no information was available to us before we visited Croatia, so we missed a lot; however for the Austrian sites we visited we are indebted to Graham Tebb & Georg Juen for their help!

The weather throughout was generally fine, indeed often too hot - in Croatia we were had shade temperatures of 37°C or more in the middle of the day, which is way too much for useful birding. We had regular, somewhat vicious thunderstorms in the Alps most afternoons, and the weather in eastern Austria was miserable for the couple of days' birding we had there. The time of year was obviously not ideal, but we tried to make the best of it.

Maps of Austria to a good driving scale are available in many petrol stations, also in the Libro stores, which are found in almost every town. You can also find reasonable walking maps here - the Freytag & Berndt Wanderkarten are at 1:50 000 and are OK for both driving and walking. The Ferto-Hansag Nemzeti Park/Neusiedlersee National Park map at 1:60 000 covers some interesting areas in Hungary that are worth a visit, whilst the Austrian maps tend to stop just after the border. The map can be bought in the information centre just before Illmitz: the one to buy is the small paper map with a Great Egret on the cover. Walking routes in the Alps are generally very well marked along the trails and cycle routes are plentiful and well-marked in the lowlands, putting the UK's network and marking system to shame as usual. (But our maps are better!)

Maps of Croatia are harder to get hold of. We found that for birding the only decent ones available at short notice were the series of four maps, again by Freytag & Berndt, which cover Istria, Cres/Lošinj/Krk/Rab, and the Dalmatian coast in two parts. The scale is 1:100 000, and there seems to be nothing of an equivalent scale for the inland areas. We found these maps to be rather unreliable - some of the roads we drove down were not marked on the maps, sometimes roads marked on the maps didn't exist, and although campsites are marked on the maps, the locations tend to be inaccurate; presumably the sites may not exist for very long. Fortunately there are not a great deal of roads to choose from when driving; though the dirt-track network is reasonably extensive, it is probably safer to walk them than drive them.

Austrians use the Euro obviously, and in Croatia the Kuna is the national currency (about 7.5 Kuna to the Euro, and the 1 Kuna coin has a Nightingale on it). In Austria of course German is the national language, but there are many people who at least have a smattering of English if you get too stuck. In Croatia we found there were many people who spoke English and/or German, often very well indeed, so we had no major communication problems!

We tried to stay in campsites along the way, as the cheapest option. Prices in Austria are generally OK at up to about 36 Euro for the two of us, plus car, plus tent (for 2 nights??). As SG lives in Vorarlberg, we were able to stay at her home during the first few days, and with her sister in Innsbruck later. Camping in Croatia is pretty good, although there are not too many places to choose from. Generally the smaller sites are more reasonably priced, (details in the itinerary), and it's far better to get under trees if possible at this time of year, as the temperature is kept a little lower. You tend to have to pay per person per night, plus tent, plus car in both Austria and Croatia, with a 'tourist tax' on top in Croatia (also per night). If you leave your car off-site it makes it somewhat cheaper, but then you have the worry of being broken into. We didn't see or hear of much danger of break-ins, however, and I would guess that acting sensibly about what you leave in the car and where you leave it will keep you safe!

We had our own car for the journey to try and keep costs down. We have hired cars in Austria before, but both being young tends to put the price up drastically (about 109 Euro for a weekend was the best we managed). Fuel is reasonable, at about 80 Euro cents per litre in much of Austria, and about 7 Kuna per litre in Croatia.

Sites visited

• Saminatal
• Rheindelta
• Hochtannbergpaß
• Bangser Ried
• Furkajoch
• Kanisfluh
• Nordkette/Hafelekar
• Hohe Tauern
• Seewinkel
• Crna Mlacka
• Pag island
• Grebaštica
• Split (Malacka ridge)
• Vis
• Plitvice lakes

Austria.

3rd June - we visited the Saminatal, a narrow valley running up from Frastanz towards Liechtenstein, where one or two pairs of White-backed Woodpecker breed. Needless to say, we were too late in the year for them to be active, so didn't see them. The valley is mixed conifer and deciduous woodland with a small but rapidly flowing river. Typical woodland species were seen here, the best of which were White-throated Dipper and Grey Wagtail. A nice variety of butterflies were present, including numerous Duke-of-Burgundy Fritillaries and Chequered Skippers. The only dragonfly species, unsurprisingly, was Golden-ringed.

3rd June p.m. (plus 5th, 8th & 10th June) - we spent in the Rhinedelta, where the river Rhine runs into Lake Constance (the Bodensee) between Bregenz and Fußach. The river itself is totally canalised, but the area around has been designated a Local Nature Reserve, or the Austrian equivalent. There are patches of scrubby Willow/Sallow/Poplar woodland, areas of Phragmites reed and a lagoon where a couple of hundred pairs of Common Terns breed. Breeding birds are interesting, with a colony of Great Crested Grebes, plenty of Red-crested Pochard, Great Reed Warblers, Golden Oriole and so on and so forth. An evening roost of Black Kites reaches 70 or so birds through the summer, although our best count was just 35. There is also a very good chance of finding a local or not-so-local rarity. Aside from the Seewinkel in the east, probably the most intensely birded area in Austria. In the few days we were there we had Glossy Ibis, Rosy Starling, Melodious Warbler, Whiskered Tern (both rather rare in Austria) and Short-toed Lark. The best places to look appear to be the two floodbanks of the Rhine itself, the left one, accessed from Fußach, being the more intensely birded. This is where the terns breed, where most of the woodland is, and also has good views into the bay (Fußacherbucht) where marsh terns hang out. The bay is accessible at various points behind Fußach, and the shoreline towards the Swiss border is also worth a look wherever it can be accessed. The right bank is less well birded, but also interesting (email if you want any information about access or birds). Other species we saw here in the few days we visited: Little Bittern, Quail, plenty of Turtle Doves, a flock of 18 Little Stint, Mediterranean Gull, a couple of flocks of Black Tern, the largest was one of 56 birds, lots of breeding Fieldfare, Icterine Warbler and Short-toed Treecreeper.

Widderstein

4th June - Hochtannbergpaß area. This is a fairly high alpine area (1680m a.s.l.) just to the northwest of Warth, on the road between Dornbirn and Lech, lying on the borders of Vorarlberg, Germany and the Tirol. The pass itself has some dwarf pine and birch woodland, but lies pretty much on the treeline. The slopes are alpine meadow; places away from the skiing area and too steep for cattle grazing were the most interesting. We didn't catch up with all the species we hoped for - Rock Ptarmigan eluded us, and some of the other alpine birds were seen better elsewhere, but on the whole it seems to be a good site to try, especially if you don't have too much time. We walked up the Widderstein, to the north of the pass in the morning, where we had stunning views of White-winged Snowfinch, Alpine Chough and Alpine Marmot, very poor views of a probable Alpine Accentor and a flyover Rock-thrush. 'A couple of pairs' of Rock-thrush breed on the mountain, but they tend to stop singing early in the morning at this time of year, and 8.30 a.m. seems to have been too late! The afternoon was spent walking up the other side of the pass, to the south, past the skiing area in search of Ptarmigan. We found little else there except for more Snowfinch, a few Northern Wheatear and the ever-present Water Pipits. A midday trip into Warth, the town just east of the pass, produced a couple of singing male Common Rosefinch on the edge of the town, and a handful of Crag Martins breeding at the entrance to the gallery of the road tunnel.

6th June - Bangser Ried. This is an area of wet grassland, meadows, scattered woodlands and arable farmland in the western corner of Vorarlberg, bordering Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The area has a few Corncrakes, as well as Hobby, Common Quail, Golden Oriole and the usual selection of mid-European birds that one would expect.

View from the Ragazerblanken

7th June - Furkajoch area. A slightly higher area than the Hochtannbergpaß, at 1720m a.s.l., but with much the same selection of birds. We walked along from the road's bend north of the pass to the Portlahorn (2020m), the Ragazer Blanken (2060m) and the Sünser Spitze (2080m). The Ragazer Blanken and Sünser Spitze are cut off in a dramatic cliff, which has breeding Alpine Accentor, Alpine Chough, Snowfinch, all of which we saw well, and presumably Rock-thrush, which again we failed to see. Ptarmigan should be present, and Black Grouse definitely are - provided you are early enough in the day (before 8 a.m.). The walking is pretty easy, although the Portlahorn and the last 30-40m of the other peaks are steep, but the Portlahorn can be by-passed, and the birds are easily seen from the cliff edges rather than the peaks. Other birds of note we had here were Ring Ouzel (race alpestris), Lesser Whitethroat, Honey-buzzard, Whinchat and Lesser Redpoll.

9th June - Kanisfluh. This is a spectacular mountain at the end of the road between Damüls and Au. We finally caught up properly with Rock-thrush here, with superb views of two displaying males. The open conifer woodland behind the Gasthof provided Spotted Nutcracker, Citril Finch, Crested Tit and Ring Ouzel. We also saw a number of Alpine Ibex and Chamois here, along with plenty of Alpine Salamanders warming up on the road in the early morning. A visit to Warth again with Georg Juen provided a Booted Eagle (for it's second day) and the sub-adult Common Rosefinch again.

11th June - Nordkette/Hafelekar, Innsbruck. A short (25 minute) cable-car ride up the mountain from inside Innsbruck takes you to just over 2000m a.s.l., which is plenty for Alpine birds! We just about scraped into double figures for the top, with a flyover Honey-buzzard being the most unexpected. Snowfinch, Alpine Accentor and Alpine Chough provided great views, the latter hassling us whenever we brought out our sandwiches. There must be Wallcreeper up there, but the amount of cliff is rather daunting, and a couple of hours' watch provided nothing. Views over Innsbruck and to the north are very spectacular. The journey costs 18 Euro, and you must change cars once. The cable car starts from Hungerburg, where there is ample parking. We also found a singing male Common Redstart in the car park.

12th - 14th June - Hohe Tauern. We based ourselves at Wörth, near Rauris, on the north side of the Hohe Tauern. Having seen most of our alpine 'wants' before, we were not too fussed about what we could see here. The area is near a Lammergeier release site, part of the on-going reintroduction of the species into the Alps. The woodlands around are pretty fantastic, looking great for grouse species (Hazel Grouse is in the area for sure, Capercaillie probably), but our searches were frustrated by noisy families and cars going up to the huts (why at 5.30 a.m., I ask myself!!). Sandra found a Wallcreeper opposite the huts up the Krummltal, and we had 4 or so Griffon Vulture there as well, a number of Golden Eagles, criminal views of Snowfinch and stacks of butterflies. The walk up the Krummltal is steep in places, and takes about 1.5 - 2 hours, passing through mixed woodland at first, then open areas with scattered conifers (lots of Ring Ouzels and Lesser Redpoll) and finally into alpine meadows - there's even a glacier at the end of the trail, albeit a small one! Another interesting area was the Rauriser Urwald, a collection of pools of varying sizes in mature Spruce forest. We went to look for dragonflies, so weren't at a good time of day for birds, but grouse there must be, and Nutcracker there is. You can drive up the road to a toll and park in the car park for free, or pay 9 Euro for the privilege of driving a little further! The views from the top are, as ever, spectacular.

15th June - Seewinkel. We had been based in Vienna for the past year, so this was meant to be a farewell visit to some of the sites we like best. In the end the weather was pretty foul until mid-afternoon, so we merely trundled round a few lakes on a cold, wet and windy day to see what we could see. The best birding was in Hungary, on the Mexicopuzta - cross the border at Pamhagen, on the southeast corner of the Seewinkel, then drive into Fertod, turn right, then right again (signed towards Sarród). Follow the main road through, past the end of the houses, across a railway line, then eventually across a small canal. The car park is immediately after the canal, on the left. Walk back over the canal, turn right (towards lake Neusiedl) and keep going for about 1km, until you reach a small hut with a viewing platform beside. We had Ferruginous Duck, Purple Heron, 23 Spoonbill, an adult White-tailed Eagle, Marsh Sandpiper and a number of Black Terns here, and this is just about the quietest time of year... The Seewinkel is worth a general explore anyway - different days, even different times of day bring different pools to the fore - just mooch around! The Zick Lacke (Illmitz), Ober- and Unterstinkersees and the Zicksee St Andrä are worth a look almost any time, although the Lange Lacke is best in the early morning and late evening, before and after the heat haze. Lange Lacke always seems to be windy, and the towers are no earthly use at all for birding in any sort of wind (great work there WWF!).

16th June was a visit to a site just outside Vienna where we had been told White-backed Woodpecker was still active. Having spent hours looking in the early spring with no luck, we were pleased to have one last chance! As soon as we arrived, J. had a brief view of one male in the upper reaches of a tree, only for the bird to promptly disappear, never to be seen again. We also had Black Woodpecker and Collared Flycatcher here.

Croatia.

19th June - we drove from Vienna down to a Roller site in southern Steiermark first, and then crossed into Slovenia at Mureck, travelling south to Mureck and then joining the main road to Zagreb just south of Ptuj. (There is a toll on the motorway between the border of Slovenia and Maribor, but it is only 80 Euro cents, and is payable in Euro as well). The motorway south to Zagreb and then east towards the coast was a joy to drive on (almost!), with very little traffic and most of it pretty well behaved. A small toll of 10 Kuna was paid for the privilege of driving on the motorway towards Zagreb. It takes about 5 hours to get from Vienna to Zagreb down the motorway, traffic permitting.

Crna Mlaka fish ponds

The first site we visited was the fishpond area within the gallery forest of Crna Mlaka, some 30km southwest of Zagreb. To reach this site, you leave the motorway at the Jastrebarsko exit; pay your toll for the section from Zagreb (about 7 Kuna) and then turn immediately left. The tarmac runs out after literally 20m, and then it's trundle along a rough-ish gravel road for about 5km. The road runs through superb gallery forest, and had we been there earlier in the year it would no doubt have been packed full with interesting passerines singing. They were presumably still there, but no longer singing. The reserve is signposted, with some rough & ready boards by the roadside, so is not too easy to miss. We were lucky enough to see a Pine Marten sauntering across a joining road just on the last bend before the car park. There is a reasonable amount of parking outside the reserve, although it is also possible to get the car in (about 20 Kuna). We had no need of the car though, and walked around quite happily - it's as flat as a very flat thing. Birds here were pretty good: 400+ Ferruginous Duck, a number of White-tailed Eagles, Black & White Storks, Grey, Black-crowned Night & Squacco Herons, Little and Great Egrets, and about 3-400 Whiskered Terns. Various dragonflies, butterflies and the loudest green frog chorus I've ever heard were a good background cast. Passerines were represented by Marsh, Sedge, Reed, Great Reed, Savi's and River Warblers, a female flava Yellow Wagtail, Common Nightingales and Tree Sparrows. We spent the night in the car here, for want of anywhere better, visiting the site again early the next morning, and then driving on towards the coast.

20th June. After leaving Crna Mlaka, we headed to Karlovac (7 Kuna motorway toll again) then along a small road through Josipdol to Senj, level with the southern end of the island Krk. This brought us through a lot of fantastic looking low intensity farmland and scattered woodlands, over the northern end of the Velebit Mountains to the coast. As soon as you cross the Velebits, you're in the Mediterranean zone. We ended up travelling further than we wished again, getting to Novalja, on the island Pag before we found a campsite. Birds of interest on the journey were typical for the Mediterranean, with Blue Rock-thrush, Sardinian Warbler and Black-headed Bunting heading the cast. On Pag we wandered around the road south in the evening, picking up Woodchat and Red-backed Shrikes, Tawny Pipit and Crested Larks. We camped just on the edge of Novalja, at Straško, which was fine, shady, well located but expensive at 250 Kuna for two nights' stay. The island is grazed quite well with sheep, and the dominant plant seems to be Sage, so the sheep should taste very good! Lots of drystone walls, with sparse vegetation growing in the fields, Juniper bushes growing everywhere that they can.

Pag island

21st June was spent on Pag, driving down to Kolan and walking along a path up the valley towards Pag (the town). By starting birding before 6 a.m. we managed to see much more than we would have had we started at a more 'civilised' hour. The scrub along the valley side and the tiny fields on the valley floor were most productive, with Orphean, Sardinian and Subalpine Warblers, Spanish Sparrows, 'real' Rock Dove, Bee-eater, a hunting Short-toed Eagle, Woodchat and Red-backed Shrikes lots of Cirl Buntings and a Hermann's Tortoise. We then drove further on towards Pag, via Košljun and back to Novalja. The road to Košljun from the main road is tarmac, but then crossing eastwards over the island to the lagoons and the town of Pag is the usual dirt track. These tracks are generally in good condition, but there are odd bits where the underside of your car is liable to get swiped if you're not careful - not a good idea in the middle of nowhere! The road and lagoons were by now very quiet, with a beautiful male Montagu's Harrier hunting by the road and another Short-toed Eagle being the pick of the bunch, along with the ever-present Tawny Pipits and Crested Larks. In the cool of the evening we drove back from Novalja towards the ferry link with the mainland and checked the scrubby patches on the edge of the village of Caska. Here we had Melodious, Sardinian and Eastern Olivaceous Warblers, Black-headed and Cirl Buntings, and a few more Spanish Sparrows.

22nd June we travelled down the main road to Zadar, stopping for several families of melanoleuca Black-eared Wheatears and a Little Owl on the way, then further south to šibenik, and then a little further still to a campsite called 'Ante & Toni', at Sparadici on the south side of the Grebaštica bay. The site is quite small, but very reasonably priced (135 Kuna for 3 nights), again on the edge of the beach, but of course the ground was rather stony! We travelled down to Primošten on two of the evenings to eat - a very pretty town with some superb restaurants, but somewhat pricey. The area around here is full of rather well matured maquis-type vegetation, lots of small trees, broken limestone in between and no paths, so the birding is all pretty much roadside stuff. Again, the time of year was our problem - too hot for midday birding, too late for much activity anyway.

23rd June we explored the area of pinewood running along the hillside south of Sparadici, finding only a few Alpine Swifts and a Short-toed Eagle, then gave up and stayed on the beach.

24th June - an early morning drive to Split, and a search along the 'Malacka' ridge, just northeast of the city. Frustratingly we found a Rock Nuthatch nest, but no sign of the birds - presumably an old nest. The ridge is very, very definitely an early morning thing: by the time we reached the hut it was midday, and not only blazing hot, but also full of locals grilling lamb over open fires. The only birds of interest we found were melanoleuca Black-eared Wheatear and Cirl Bunting. Driving back over the ridge and inland to Sparadici provided a distant Lesser Grey Shrike - the only one of the trip, Blue Rock-thrush and Black-headed Bunting.

25th June we travelled to Split in the early morning again, then took the ferry to Vis, about 2 hours offshore. The ferry terminal is very complicated, so we parked outside and walked through to get tickets. The ticket office is at the far end of the port, but the staff were all very helpful with directions and information. A car and two passengers cost 293 Kuna, and we were just in time to get a ticket for the first sailing at 9 a.m. There are generally 2 boats per day, except for Tuesdays, for some reason, one going in the mid-morning, one in the late afternoon. Returning ferries are at 5.30 a.m. and usually one other trip around midday, although the times again vary. Best to check at the offices! The trip across gave us cracking views of Cory's Shearwater, and a couple of distant Bottle-nosed Dolphins. Vis itself is tiny, a roughly square island approximately 10 km by 8. There are two small towns (Vis and Komiza) and a few tiny villages, and as most of the coastline is rocky there are not too many beach-lovers away from the main town. We were told that Vis is a reliable Eleonora's Falcon site, and we eventually watched 14 or so of these smart falcons hunting insects (apparently) low over the car in the evening. Again we slept in the car - no campsites - and managed a short seawatch in the evening for a few more Cory's, and one Yelkouan Shearwater. Other species of interest on Vis were Sardinian Warbler, Blue Rock-thrush, Alpine & Pallid Swifts, again some apparently 'real' Rock Doves and most bizarrely a Pheasant!

26th June was spent returning to Split, and as our car appeared to be dying on us, back to the north. We returned inland along the E71, and the lack of campsites and the contrast to the coast were both rather startling! The coast is very Mediterranean, lots of maquis scrub, open rocky areas and pinewoods, as well as plenty of developed and developing towns, usually fairly tourist-friendly. By contrast, inland we found ourselves passing through village after village of collapsed houses, missing a roof and perhaps a couple of walls in many cases. There seemed to be a couple of inhabited houses in each village still, but the rest were ruined - presumably still a memento of the wars in the region. The worst areas were where the road ran closest to Bosnia, and as we travelled north it became marginally less depressing (but presumably the ruins offer good breeding places for owls?!). We reached the Plitvice Lakes national park before we found somewhere to camp. This is another 'tourist attraction' area, and so the camping was more expensive - at about 120 Kuna/night. There seem to be only 2 campsites here as well, so prices are likely to be much the same whichever. There are, however, a huge number of bed & breakfast-type rooms advertised by houses both on the roadside and in surrounding villages.

Rambur's Skimmer Orthetrum coerul. anceps

27th June we drove to the north entrance of Plitvice Lakes NP and paid about 20 Kuna to get in. Entry is not allowed before 7.30 a.m., so by this time the birds are quiet, but the place was still very worthwhile visiting. Yes there were hundreds of tourists later in the day, but at 7.30 it was still very quiet and cool enough to walk comfortably. There are a number of trails around these lakes, which vary in size up to several kilometres long. Most are very small, and run into one another over tufa limestone deposits, creating very fine waterfalls. The dragonflies were great: Green-eyed Hooktail, Norfolk Hawker, lots of Beautiful and some Banded Demoiselles, White-legged, Blue-tailed and Large Red Damselflies, etc. etc. Birds were normal for a mixed woodland in Europe: Marsh & Willow Tit, Hawfinch and a couple of Wood Warblers still singing. There must be a good woodpecker population present (we heard Black nearby), as there is plenty of dead wood standing, some with holes that looked like the work of White-backed.

We found Croatia was a fine place for a holiday, although relatively expensive in parts. The birds earlier on in spring should be better, and looking at the EBBC atlas there should be Rock Partridge, Rock Nuthatch, Calandra and Short-toed Larks, a good range of owls, including Ural, all the woodpeckers, Lesser Spotted Eagle and Sombre Tit as well. We were hampered by making a last-minute decision to go there, and by not having found any information about where to go when we arrived. The coast further south towards Serbia looks very interesting, but is a very long drive from Vienna! We met a few birders from Switzerland and Germany around the Rhinedelta area, and the usual hordes of tourists in the Seewinkel, but saw no-one birding throughout Croatia (bliss!). As far as Austrian specialities went, having spent the past year in the country we didn't make much effort to see special birds (Great Bustard, Collared & Red-breasted Flycatcher, Saker, Imperial Eagle, crakes, Moustached, Barred, River Warblers, etc. etc.) as we needed to concentrate on Alpine birds. April-mid May would be a much more successful time, so we shall perhaps try then next time!