Poland 5-19 May 2017 (Lubelski province)  -  birding trip report John van der Woude        www.jvanderw.nl (trip reports)

Again we visited birding sites mentioned in Birding in Poland (Oriolus Förlag), this time especially in Lubelski province in the East of Poland. This is south of the well-known birding region in northeast Poland. In contrast to the latter, you will meet practically no birders in Lubelski province, despite its rich birdlife. So there is a lot to discover on your own. To give one example: the modest bird tower from where the above photo was taken in Poleski national park had a feeding couple of Little Crake right below us. The whole province has a great biodiversity, ranging from open marshes to large forests and lush river valleys. The agricultural areas are often still worthwhile too.

On our way through west and central Poland to this easternmost province we visited a few additional birding sites. We booked hotels via booking.com, but rented a holiday home in the middle of the Janow forest. The weather was good all the time. Coffee breaks while travelling in Poland are easy nowadays as nearly every petrol station has good coffee machines of international brands. If you wish to see historical towns, Sandomierz and Zamosc are great.

This report mainly shows photos of the birding sites. An annotated bird list can be found here (or here in Dutch). The location of all observations recorded in Observado can be found as a kml file here, which opens in Google Earth (or here in Dutch). Zoom in as far as possible in Google Earth to see the exact locations and landscape details of the observations. In a way, this kml file is a report in itself.

Visited areas: 1. Half-open areas near our hotel Horda just across the border. 2. Middle Warta river valley (site 42 in Birding in Poland). 3. Kozienice forest and open area, near Pionki (site 61 in BiP). 4. Wisla river valley (site 80 BiP) 5. Janow forest (site 81 BiP) 6. Sites around Zamosc, forest and open areas. 7. Wooded river banks at border with Ukraine. 8. Chelm marsh (site 74 BiP). 9. Poleski national park (site 75 BiP). 10. Lower Wieprz river valley (site 77 BiP). 11. Warta river mouth.

Middle Warta river valley.

Just somewhere along a minor road. Wryneck here.

Wisla river with large island with Caspian Gull colony. The former German name of this river is Weichsel, after which the last ice age has been named.

Imielty Lug marsh reserve in Janow forest.

Janow forest, Leka reserve.

Long-tailed Tit family (white-headed form; young not yet white-headed) near our holiday home in Janow forest.

Collared Flycatcher in Janow forest.

Somewhere near Zamosc, not a special reserve or so. A typical example of how you can find your own nice birding areas.

Border river with Ukraine.

Chelm marsh.

Bubnow marsh, in the eastern, separate part of Poleski NP (east of Urszulin village, where we had our base in the recommendable Hotel Drob, with good restaurant). Seen from the bird tower which we visited several times. Once with Elk closeby.

Raised bog Durne within Poleski NP, with Crane.

Wet alder forest in Poleski NP, parallel to the village of Stare Zalusce. Trail to Lukie lake.

The wild northern border area of Poleski NP.

Viervlek libel. Libellula quadrimaculata.

Common sight in Poleski NP and similar areas.

Old fish ponds near Pieszowola village in the northern part of Poleski NP, with Little Crake right underneath the bird tower.

Lower Wieprz river valley, at Jeziorzany village.

On our way back westward, a short visit to the Middle Warte river valley again. With view from a river dune.

The lower Warta river near Slonsk. We have been here often over the years (see my reports), and could not resist a short visit on our last day in Poland.