Into Greece...Falakro Mountain

Falakro means bald mountain ...and at a height of 1700m it certainly was. On the way up we saw Rock Partridge and then at the top, Alpine Choughs, Water Pipit, Rufous- tailed Rock Thrush, Black Redstart and Northern Wheatear....but it was the flowers that I really enjoyed. 

Towards the summit...

The ski station ...Skiing used to be really important to the Bulgarian economy, but now the snow is only reliable in January and February, so the infra structure still remains ...presumably the same story here, if not worse for Northern Greece. 

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush.

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush.

A barren landscape - but if you look closely you can see the Alpine Choughs with their bright yellow beaks.

Alpine meadow.

Yellow Crocuses.

Alpine Squill and Cordydalis solida - Solid-rooted Fumewort.

Alpine Squill.

Solid-rooted Fumewort.

Centaura montana - 'Amethyst in Snow'.

Three-toothed Orchid - Neotinea Tridentata

Early Star of Bethlehem.

The yellow Crocuses.

Barren - and I would have loved more time here!

The Greek border ...and onto lunch.

For rather obvious reasons, there are no photos of the Border Control, but whilst we were waiting there, we spotted a superb giant Peacock Moth. Whist gaining some strange looks form the staff, a quick run over to photograph said moth, followed by a hasty retreat back to the vehicle was apparently permissible. A stop for a tortoise rescue and then lunch in shady woodland completed  the morning. Whilst having lunch we had excellent views of Woodlark and Northern Wheatear.

With a wingspan of 10-13cm it's an impressive beast.

Immediately we left the Border Control - a tortoise required an emergency stop to remove him from the road and to safety. 

Hermann's Tortoise.

'and away'....

Driving up into the mountains, numerous marble quarries scarred the landscape.

Time for lunch in a woodland glade. Plenty of Hellebores and......

A lovely Elderflower orchid.

Yellow Star of Bethlehem.

Soil Centipede, Himantarium gabrielis.

Field Cricket.

Scorpion.

Before the Greek border

Another travel day, this time from Bulgaria into Northern Greece. First though a stop at the Borino meadows, for some Corncrake spotting....before heading to the banks of the River Nestos.

Somewhere in this pasture - there's a Corncrake calling...

Enjoying the sun.

Roman Snail.

And after a while - a sighting of the elusive Corncrake (In the middle of the photo).

Colourful bugs - Spilostethus sp

A service station stop - some nice Green-winged Orchids.

Heading towards the Nestos River enroute to Falkro Mountain.

View on the way...

On his mobile phone...

Collecting sand from the riverside of the Nestos.

R. Nestos, with Nightingales calling, Bee Eaters, Cuckoos and Little Ringed-plover.

The churches are a mixture of denominations, including mosques and minarets.

Colourful Spurges.

Queen of Spain Fritillary.

Speckled Yellow Moth.

And after lunch...

Lunch was salad, followed by an extremely nice bean soup and bread. We then made several stops, in different habitats, with the highlights being: five Hobbies in the air at once, a great view of a Hawfinch, Alpine Star of Bethlehem, Duke of Burgundy Fritillary and a Scorpion. 

Hawfinch.

Alpine Star of Bethlehem.

Common Wall Lizard.

House Leeks.

Mistletoe on Pine - Viscum album subsp.austriacum, a subspecies of European Mistletoe that specialises on parasitising Pine.

A thistle like head - Carlina genus, native to the Mediterranean.

Lesser Grey Shrike

Morels.

Duke of Burgundy Fritillary.

Brown Argus.

And a lovely little Scorpion.