We had a delayed start today, with a heavy band of rain passing along the coast throughout the course of the morning. It was a good day to incur such disruption, as we had less planned that usual, but in any case it had cleared by midday and we set off towards Burgas and ‘Atanasovsko Ezero’ — a large salt lake just north of the city. There is one main viewing point here, which is where we stood for two sessions between 12:30pm and 4:40pm, interrupted by an hour foray into the city looking for a place to buy wellington boots, which we anticipated needing for later parts of the trip.

We were quite surprised by the spectacle that greeted us upon arrival — a huge flock of 750+ Greater Flamingo. This was a long-awaited new species for me. None were particularly close, any that had been closer to the viewing point most likely had already been flushed earlier in the day. Even if they had been close, the heat haze made photography throughout very unpleasant.

The other highlight was an unexpectedly good variety of waders seen across the two stints (intentional), including a flock of 11 Black-tailed Godwits, which was new for my Bulgaria list, a Redshank, 2 Marsh Sandpiper, and a distant mixed flock of small waders that at least included Dunlin and Little Stint. We were pleased to see 4 Slender-billed Gull and 6 Little Gull, and also recorded 10+ Black-winged Stilt, 5 Glossy Ibis, 3 Spoonbill, 2 Marsh Harrier, Syrian Woodpecker, Nightingale, 1 Pygmy Cormorant and 3 Dalmatian Pelican.

Odonata included 5+ Keeled Skimmer, Broad Scarlet, Lesser Emperor, Green-eyed Hawker, and a mating pair of Dark Spreadwing — a second sighting after my first the previous day. At the end of the first session, in the car park we found a Small Red-eye which posed nicely for a bit. Moths included a White-spotted, and two micros which were new for me: 10+ Chrysocrambus linetella (Orange-bar Grass-veneer), and 5+ Loxostege sticticalis (Diamond-spot Pearl). Both species are migrants in Kent, the former very rare (2 records).

After finishing at Atanasovsko Ezero, we headed back towards the hotel in Pomorie, stopping first for another evening session at the Salt Museum. This time the target was to try and re-find the Dark Spreadwing from the previous evening. We managed to find one, and I managed a reasonable selection of images, the rest of which I will put in a dedicated post. Otherwise the birds seen were much the same as the previous evening. I focused my photographic efforts today on trying to get some Common Tern and Sandwich Tern shots, with a little bit of success.

The walk back to hotel held one last treat for the day — a young Dice Snake. After a quick photoshoot in the car park where we found it, we moved it somewhere a little safer. I’m quite pleased with how the photos came out, and I got a nice selection, so I think it deserves its own post. Here’s one for now: