Romania!

Romania - May/June 2009
Weather: Warm and sunny throughout, rain at the start.

Wildlife seen:
129 species of bird; 2 species of dragonfly; 5 species of butterfly; 12 species of mammal.

Places visited:
Tulcea; Delta; Sulnia; Lake Fortuna; Mariuc; Caraoman; Babadg; Cheia Gorge; Gura Dovrogea; Steptraca; Vadu; Istria; Somova; Celic and Bucharest.

'What the heart thinks, the tongue speaks'...Romanian Proverb
 

Bearded Tit
'If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come'...Chinese Proverb

Delta
'O fret not after knowledge -- I have none, and yet my song comes native with the warmth.
O fret not after knowledge -- I have none, and yet the Evening listens'...John Keats

Field of Flowers - name anyone?
'It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up'...Muhammad Ali

Flower - name anyone?
'Earth laughs in flowers'...Ralph Waldo Emerson

Glossy Ibis
'O lyric Love, half angel and half bird. And all a wonder and a wild desire'...Robert Browning

Great Egret
'Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings'...C. Archie Danielson

Gull - which one, anyone?
'How helpless we are, like netted birds, when we are caught by desire!'...Belva Plain

House Sparrow
'It is better to be a young June-bug than an old bird of paradise'...Mark Twain

Snake
'Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake'...W. C. Fields

Souslik
Exotic name given to the common ground squirrel of Europe and Asia. They are unusual amongst squirrels, and rodents generally, because their diet may include considerable quantities of meat, such as small birds, mice and voles.

Spiders Web
'In the spider-web of facts, many a truth is strangled'...Paul Eldridge

Squacco Heron
'A forest bird never wants a cage'...Henrik Ibsen

White Pelicans
'Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly'...Langston Hughes

White Stork
'God gives every bird his worm, but He does not throw it into the nest'...P. D. James

White-tailed Eagle
'A good servant is a real godsend, but truly this is a rare bird in the land'...Martin Luther

Although much of the country, that we saw, was still recovering from the previous regime I found it, and the people, to be very welcoming and generous, especially with their time.

The Delta itself needs to be seen to be believed. As it is on the migration route you need to seriously put it on your 'places to see' list. You won't be disappointed.

I hope you are not too bored or fed up with this series. Only a few more to come!

Best wishes, Graham