Terek Sandpiper perched on a partly submerged fisherman's boat
DOWNSTREAM AT KP3MHAE (OR 'KREMNOE') MORE SOUGHT-AFTER WP BIRDS CAN BE FOUND. These include notably Terek Sandpiper, at the westernmost limit of its breeding range and the gorgeous Azure Tit. We found some regular perches of the former, on logs and old fishing boats, as well as a nest of the latter (in the wall of a rickety village house). Other interesting birds here were: Little Bittern, Corn Crake, Citrine Wagtail, Thrush Nightingale, Bluethroat (white-spotted) and Common Rosefinch. Another pleasant surprise in Belarus was the friendly welcome we received everywhere although we resisted one or two invitations to a vodka drinking session! The winters are long and cold here with deep snow lying for months.
Azure Tit, bird of the trip for most!
Citrine Wagtail, towards the westernmost limit of its breeding range
A typical village house, with Thrush Nightingale and Icterine Warbler singing in the garden (IPhone 5S Hipstamatic)
A lovely breeding-plumaged Marsh Sandpiper was the highlight of our photo hide sessions at Turov Meadow
TUROV MEADOW IS ALIVE WITH NORTHBOUND MIGRANT SHOREBIRDS IN SPRING. Lying on the banks of the Pripyat River, a major flyway from the Black Sea to the Baltic, as well as a westward route from points east, Turov is very well positioned. We enjoyed some great early morning photo sessions in hides on the banks of ox-bow lakes, overlooking marshes full of shorebirds and terns. The commonest species were Ruff and Dunlin but with them were smaller numbers of Wood Sandpipers, Temminck's Stints and a handful of Black-tailed Godwits, Spotted Redshanks and two lovely Marsh Sandpipers. Terns were represented by five species - the gorgeous White-winged (around 5000 of them on the first few days), Black, Whiskered, Common and Little. Jack tried another area and was disappointed with a session that only included one Terek Sandpiper! Pete and I talked about how great it would be if one of the Marsh Sands would venture right infront of the hide...
Marsh Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Temminck's Stint
White-winged Tern
White-winged Tern and Dunlin
Salihorsk Salt Mines
MY IMPRESSION OF THE COLD WAR SOVIET UNION WAS OF GRIM SALT MINES AND GULAG LABOUR CAMPS. The former can still be seen in Belarus but it also has a huge proportion of natural vegetation cover compared to most European countries and with a sparce population (it has never fully recovered from losing one third of its people in WWII) wildlife flourishes here. Although we did not see any large predators we enjoyed several great encounters with a total of 29(!) European Bison and bird life was very much in evidence everywhere. The immigration process at a modern-looking Minsk airport was painless and quick and we were soon heading south, past cyryllic road signs on a broad new dual carriageway almost empty of traffic. Fields were a lot larger than I was expecting, owing to the former communist co-operative farming methods but away from them, swathes of silver birch trees cloaked vast Scots Pine forests that stretched to the horizon. Several hours later we reached the Pripyat Valley and our comfortable hotel in the ancient town of Turov, where we had time for a quick walk through of the site for our follow morning's photography, Turov Meadows - Western Palearctic hotspot!
Viktor at Turov Meadows