This is the Senne fishponds SPA – and has been the subject of an EU Life project.
Can you almost hear the waterbirds singing when you look at that photograph? This was a day with warblers coming out of our ears: Barred, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Icterine, Grasshopper, Savi’s and River.
But if you don’t like passerines there were waterbirds aplenty – Common Crane, Black Stork, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Night Heron, Great Egret, Little Egret, Spoonbill and even a Bittern. And Ferruginous Duck too. And a Pygmy Cormorant.
But if you don’t like them either the day produced White-tailed Eagle, Lesser Spotted Eagle and Eastern Imperial Eagle as well as a Red-footed Falcon.
Lists of other people’s bird sightings are pretty dull I fear, but in a day we saw over 100 species with a whole bunch of species that would have been impossible in western Europe. And it was in a pretty location, with hardly anyone else around, with good paths and birdwatching towers.
If you visit, you probably won’t get carp cooked for you by the BirdLife Slovakia staff – but then again, you never know!
And the beer was good although it did have a non-native species on it.
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My wife and I passed through Slovakia just after the fall of communism. Unfortunately we were in our motorhome, and the border guards insisted that we pass though in one day. At the time gypsies were persecuted (and for all I know are still), and we were assumed to be the same. Perhaps we could return safely now, because it does look most interesting and up my street.
It’s a great place. When we visited in 1991 it felt almost like the edge of Europe; the border, within sight, was still with the Soviet Union. I expect it feels a bit different now. Though even then, the first person we met when we got there was an English birder. And there are many other fine birding places in Slovakia.
Oh Mark. Zlaty Bazant! (Golden Pheasant)
And there are now three if not four microbreweries in Košice…