Poland May 2011 John Martin

John Martin and 3 other local birders spent 4 days birding in eastern Poland 8-11 May, around the usual hotspots and sent us these pics. Many thanks John.

John writes:

We flew from Luton Airport to Warsaw on Sunday morning then drove up to Bialowieza where we had rented a house for four days.

Immediately went to look for the Great Snipe lek after eventually locating the right village for our local guide for the first 24 hours. They were brilliant - 'a symphony of icicles' to quote Lars Jonsson - leaping into the air, scrapping a bit and doing their stretches and tail fanning thing in the middle of a large bog that we'd never have found without the guide.

Next day round the forest with Pygmy Owl, White-backed Woodpecker and Hazel Grouse as our main targets.

Pygmy Owl



We quickly had great views of the owl, mobbed by loads of small birds. White-backed Woodpecker nest news reached us during the morning and that secured my only lifer of the trip (bit of a bogey bird - spent 11 hours failing to find them in Turkey last year).

White-backed Woodpecker at nest

Black Woodpecker

Hazel Grouse was seen by most of the group but I had to wait til the last evening before getting a decent view of a male of this very shy grouse. While attempting to lure on in by playing the high-pitched call we attracted a Pine Marten onto the forest ride.

Next day was the marshes around a big Reservoir near the Belarus border. We found singing Citrine Wagtail, hundreds of Marsh Terns (mainly White-winged Black), White-tailed Eagles and Penduline Tit at its fab nest.

Middle-spotted Woodpecker mobbing the Pygmy Owl



All the while we were checking sites for Bison but failed to see Europe's largest mammal. Quick look round dipping on Bison again before driving back for our flight home.

The visit was a tad early for some specialities e.g. Thrush Nightingale, Bluethroat, Barred and Icterine warblers and Rosefinch (two in on the last morning but would be common in a few days time).

Collared Flycatcher

male Ortolan Bunting

This was ok as we wanted the woodpeckers (we had 7 species), owl and grouse before everywhere got too leafy as the other lads had missed them on a later trip last year.