A Few Notes From Bratislava

Just back from a three night stay in Bratislava where I was celebrating another birthday (50! How did that happen?). It was not a birding trip but my binoculars managed to find their way into my luggage and it would have been a shame not to use them. There was a large park just across the Danube from my botel (it was a hotel on a boat in case you're wondering) and I popped over every morning for an hour's walk or so.

Park life, a few highlights.

I was a little surprised to find as many birds as I did in the middle of a central European winter but there was a reasonable selection of species on offer. Of the four species of woodpecker present a Middle Spotted was the best, it was my forth in as many years in four different countries. Hawfinches were pretty common with small flocks throughout the park. In all six types of finch were seen and that included Siskin and Bullfinch within their ranks. One feature of the park's birdlife was the large number of Fieldfares roving around in search of food, others were seen in the wider city. While only a few Redwings were found good numbers of Blackbirds and a few Mistle Thrushes were also noted. One of my favourite aspects of my early morning walks was the number of Red Squirrels seen, it's always good to catch up with these attractive characters.

Fieldfare and Black Redstart

The River Danube runs fast here and few birds were seen on the river itself though a good number of gulls roamed up and down the waterfront. Commonest were Black-headeds with many hundreds present, they were joined by much smaller numbers of Commons  and a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls. Several Cormorants were also seen, one shorter necked individual could have been a Pygmy but the view was distant and brief. A feature of pre dawn was the large flocks of Rooks and Jackdaws crossing the river from their roost on the southern shore and moving out across the city.

A couple of the commoner species.

Another green space around the castle provided one of my highlights, a fine male Black Redstart feeding on the southern slopes of the hill. Further Hawfinches showed well here and at other points in the city, I don't know from where the birds that invaded Britain last Autumn came from but I'm guessing that it wasn't here. One final bird highlight was Golden Pheasant or rather Zlaty Basant, a very tasty Slovakian beer which turned out to be surprisingly common. It's worth searching out should you find yourself in this neck of the woods but don't forget your binoculars either!

Another Hawfinch and Yellow-legged Gull.