May 2011 - Wildlife Travel

Danube Delta, species list and trip report, 12 th to 21 st May 2011
Sorting out the menu was as challenging on the last night as it was on the first but eventually we
all got fed and enjoyed the food, but the length of the meal meant that not everyone had enough
energy left to tackle Will's excellent quiz; his visual interpretation of 'hoopoe' was a masterpiece!
It was great to hear everyone's favourite bird and memorable moments at the end of the meal, all
of which have been recounted above apart from Debbie's, Gordon and my own. These moments
were all general impressions of the trip; Debbie citing the fact that everyone had smiles on their
faces as they viewed the parade of birds, butterflies, plants and the wonderful Danube Delta while
mine was the number of 'Wows' elicited by seeing so many through the telescope. Gordon
summed it up that his moment was the fact that he had spent a great ten days with a lovely
bunch of people; well said!
21 st May
The last day started for some with a pre-breakfast walk around the ponds again and just as
enjoyable as the first with the added bonus of some black-necked grebes. It think everyone
enjoyed the drive through Bucharest and looking at The People's Palace, Ceacescau's monumental
folly to himself and a rather pleasant couple of hours at the Museum of Building's just to round off
the holiday.
So everyone and their belongings including David's jacket, Val's trousers and Graham's wallet all
made it back to the airport. David's attempts to leave his jacket behind had become so legendary
that even the BA check-in girl asked if he still had it with him! We said goodbye and thanks to
George for all his hard work. Arriving back at Heathrow Nigel managed to smuggle through all his
new lifers and not long after were again seeing the lovely South Downs in the evening sun.
I hope, and think, everyone had a great time. It has been very enjoyable reliving the trip through
this report; I hope it does the same for you.
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