The Urban Birder

During the summer, I had an invitation to spend a long weekend in Bratislava from a Slovakian friend of mine. I didn't need much persuasion. However, a quick internet search resulted in zilch information on the birding sites within the city, let alone the birds. I was on my own!

Well, the worst case scenario would have been a great chance to immerse myself in Slovakian culture, marvel at splendid architecture, look at some beautiful women and laugh at drunken Brits on their stag nights!

Nonetheless, I jumped on a plane arriving in heat soaked Bratislava a few hours later. After checking in at my hotel smack in the middle of the gorgeous Old Town and yards from the mighty Danube.

I discovered some ‘green’ areas on the other side of the river on the cheap, car rental sponsored street map that the hotel provided me with. So, the following morning I arose at sunrise and five minutes later I was walking over one of the plentiful bridges that span the Danube to investigate.

The first area I came to was a municipal park populated by tall old isolated trees. I immediately clocked up Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Blackbirds and several Black Redstarts — but little else. On the nearby river were a few Black-headed Gulls and loads of hawking Swifts and House Martins.

I continued walking east along the river until I came across another bridge with a curious flying saucer structure on top of it. I later found out that this was The Nový MostA (New Bridge) and the ‘UFO’ bit was indeed a restaurant. Apparently, during the communist days Bratislavans were not allowed to enjoy the view from this vantage point for fear that they would be tempted by the sight of nearby capitalist Austria!

It was at the bridge that I stumbled into the other ambiguous green patch on my near useless map, Sad Janka KralaB. Named after a Slovak poet it is a heavily wooded park that is apparently one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. I later discovered that despite this site's apparent richness in wildlife, the developers are hovering with their beady eyes peeled and chainsaws revved.

I immediately saw the potential here for some reasonable birding and for the remaining three days of my stay I made the area my patch. My dedication was quickly rewarded with plentiful Hawfinches (a bird so difficult to catch up with in Britain), Blackcaps, Spotted Flycatchers, Hooded Crows and even more Black Redstarts.

I had an immature Hobby drift low over one morning being mobbed by squadrons of House Martins, scores of which nested on the undercarriage of Nový Most.

The ornithological delights of my patch were the fifteen or so Golden Orioles that I saw daily flying around the canopies, singing and travelling from one clump of wood to another. A family of Collared Flycatchers were a delight to see despite being a nightmare to decipher from the very similar Pied Flycatcher.

Perhaps my favourite sighting was of a pair of Red-back Shrikes feeding what seemed to be just one fledgling in a small clearing on the edge of the woods. The stunning male was seen hunting large burrowing wasps on the cycle track that bypassed the clearing. Interestingly, there was another male present in the same area that was tolerated by the paired male.

Before I could say ‘Andalusian Hemipode’, it was time to board the plane to head back to England. I learnt two things from this visit. Firstly, always have faith in your chosen patch even if, like mine, it is popular with cyclists and dog walkers. And secondly, get a decent map next time!