We came to the Danube delta for waterbirds – and were not disappointed. This vast wetland makes my home patch on the Somerset Levels look like a garden pond. Egrets, storks, spoonbills, bitterns and herons – not just the usual grey variety, but purple and night herons too – flew alongside our cruise ship, or stood stock-still in the shallows, hunting for food.
My job, as the guest speaker on a river cruise, was to point out the various birds. As we got closer to the river’s mouth, not just waterbirds but hoopoes, bee-eaters and white-tailed eagles were added to the mix. When we reached the Black Sea, I caught sight of white and Dalmatian pelicans soaring high overhead; and an unexpected bonus – a breeding plumage great black-headed gull, a strikingly attractive species now spreading rapidly westwards into Europe from the Middle East.
But the real surprise came on a boat trip into the channels of the Delta. A small bird perched upright on a reed – which I first assumed was one of the many reedbed warblers found here. It turned out to be a lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor) – its distinctive plumage pattern reminding me of the old name “barred woodpecker”. Just one of many memorable sightings on an unforgettable trip into Europe’s largest wetland.
