Pelican Lake Guesthouse Environmental Project Centre, Srebarna.

We live at the Pelican Lake Guesthouse & Environmental Project Centre Srebarna, adjacent to the Biosphere Reserve in North East Bulgaria. We provide regular updates on our project work and reports on activity on the reserve. We co-operate closely with a number of other conservation organisations to ensure a sustainable future for wildlife and the environment. Details of our current projects and info about Pelican Lake Guesthouse can be found here; www.srebarnabirding.com

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Problems for Pelicans.

On the 28th May it was observed that all the Pelicans here had gone.

Investigations into the reasons why revealed that Wild Boar had been present at the breeding colony/site.

On 30th May we witnessed around 100 Pelicans return briefly to feed but they left 1 or 2 hours later.

Today I have seen only 3 Pelicans. I have been informed that the Bulgarian Academy of Science have proposed actions which they have put before the relevant Ministry.

I must thank Nevena Kambourova and Kolyo Mihof for their input to this information.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Todays Wildlife.....

Just a couple of pictures from today.

The weather remains incredibly hot for this time of year with very little rain.
There are still huge amounts of birds that are coming increasingly closer to the water's edge and making life a little easier for those with a camera.


Glossy Ibis


Squacco Heron

Thursday, May 24, 2007

More guests......

Here are a few pics of the new family who have moved in with us for the Summer...don't worry we are giving them great service and a discounted rate...




We will post regular updates about their stay...

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Visiting Friends...and neighbours.....

Berni , pictured here with Mike, is out with her family in Srebarna staying with us at Pelican Lake Guesthouse.

Berni and Dougie have bought a house in a village 40ks South East of us called Balgarka and are over here to see their property now that the renovations have been completed.


















From left to right..Dougie, Debbie, Richard, Bernie and a very scared looking Mike...

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Waste Away Sunday 13th May

We had a lot of fun and cleared 40x60 litre bags of plastic and other waste from the edges of Srebarna Biosphere Reserve last weekend. A team of 40 volunteers comprised of students from Uri Gagarin highschool and the good people at World for All in Silistra, our close friends Luba and Kolyo from Srebarna Guesthouse and around 20 other people from our village including the Mayor of Srebarna Georgi Boev, Kolyo Mihof from the Bulgarian Academy of Science and Toshiiko Izawa from Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). We were also joined by 2 volunteers from the UK Christine and Ellie who are over here on University placements with Green Balkans at the Wildlife Rehabillitation and Breeding Centre in Stara Zagora, animal enthusiast Ekaterina Nikolova and the other local Brits Geoff and Debbie.




Waste Away Sunday 13th May

We followed this with a garden party and lunch back at Pelican Lake Guesthouse the headquarters of Srebarna Birding, where the Green Balkans volunteer students, ably assisted by our good friend and volunteer translator Ekaterina, made a presentation about their work in Stara Zagora after this Toshi(JICA) and Kolyo(BAS) ran a quiz with questions based on environmental issues, those students with the best scores got prizes, in fact there were enough prizes to ensure that everyone won something.












We then congregated on the village square for a few words from our friend Milena with the Mayor and the wonderful Luba, about the importance of good waste management.


This was followed by a live performance from Nasco Stefanov one of Bulgarias premier rock singers who kindly gave his time to promote our cause.
Our heartfelt thanks go to all involved in organising this event and of course to all participants. A special mention must go to Allyson and Brian from Birds of Bodrum www.kyteweb.net/birdsofbodrum who co-funded the event along with ourselves and JICA. The day was topped off when a flight of over 100 Dalmatian Pelicans flew directly over our house at the end of the afternoon. We joked that they had come to say thank you to us all for doing what we can to ensure the sustainability of their environment.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Hot, hot, hot....

Today temperatures reached 33 degrees in the shade at 2pm this afternoon!
We have had almost no rain and none is forecasted for this week ahead.

The weather has not too hot however to stop this fellow from taking an afternoon stroll,spotted here just on the path.
















Wild flowers all in bloom including one of my favourites, Buttercups.

We had our first good view of Roller today though, along with the Hoopoes, a little too fast for the camera.