Autumn in Ulcinjska solana

Third – luck! They say it is. Sometimes it happens. It was only when I visited the Ulcinj Saltworks for the third time that I was able to enjoy what is currently the main asset of the Saltworks - the birds. Before, I had the opportunity to sporadically and from a distance photograph some heron or seagull, but this time...

I wrote about Solana at the beginning of May. I looked back on two meetings with her and wrote about everything that happened with her in the past. I tried to illuminate it from all sides. Some, for whom Solana is important, say that I did it well. The only thing I missed in that blog was the birds. I planned to return to Solana in the fall, hoping to get lucky with at least one good photo. In the middle of October, one Saturday morning, we were not lazy. We got up early and headed for Ulcinj a little after 6 o'clock. We arrived at the Solana gate at 8 am. It is today at 7 am. It was cool, and the wind was blowing a bit. As it often happens, we commented that hats would come in handy, but we didn't bring them.

As soon as we moved away from the ruined buildings of the former salt processing factory, something caught our eye. And then we realized: there are no wagons, there is no device for transporting salt. There is nothing, even if it is rusty, that awakens nostalgia and reminds of the former basic purpose of this place - salt production.

A few days later I read that the bankruptcy trustee sold all of this for scrap metal. As always with us, this sale was accompanied by certain controversies. But I won't talk about that on this occasion.

When we were in Solana in April, we were told that we can see the flamingos only after a 4 km walk. Then we came too late for that, but we didn't notice them during the 2-3 km we walked. We expected it to be like that that morning too and we prepared for it. How delighted we were when we saw the first flamingos after only a few hundred meters.

I heard some murmuring and looked up. And the birds are sitting on the wire, crouched next to each other. They were too small and far away, and the sun hadn't risen yet, so even the booklet "Birds of Montenegro" that I brought with me didn't help me in their identification.

A little heron would fly by here and there. But now I wanted more. I was only interested in flamingos and pelicans. However, this great white heron managed to catch my attention.

Suddenly, several glamingos fly above us. I clicked in the hope that at least some photo would work. I cannot convey to you the beauty of flamingos in flight. Photography is powerless here. Maybe, if I had remembered to take a video. But I'm slow to react. Nevertheless, I was also satisfied with what I managed to immortalize.

Since we planned to make a circle and go around the entire track, we continued straight at the first intersection. And then the delight is endless: a large flock of flamingos within range of our eyes and my (not particularly good) lens. The first group of flamingos was grey-white in color while these were white with discreet black and some even with red details. They were the fewest and looked the most exotic. Even though we stopped breathing, they still noticed us and after a bit of thinking - flew away.

Completely occupied by this group of flamingos on the left side of the road, we almost missed this loner on the right, who was frolicking with a large area of ​​water to himself. The background completely fit into the ambience, so the whole scene looked like a painting.

The original plan was to catch a circle of about 16 km as written on the map. However, the heavy rains that fell just before our visit raised the water level so much that the upper part of the trail was partially covered with water. Just when we needed to decide where to go next, we lacked road signs, because there were several dead ends. But there was nothing. We had to rely on intuition. She told us to go back to the first turn and to get what we can out of the two semi-circles. As we were getting ready to head back through some thicket, just above our heads, a flock of beautiful flamingos flew by again. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit with these photos, but I was enchanted.

We went back part of the way and turned towards the house where the water purification device is located. And here we came across solitary, gray and white flamingos. Somehow we got the impression that they don't like crowds. Alone or in pairs. Unlike the others.

During the previous walk, some pelicans would fly over us, but suddenly we saw more of them. We don't know what scared them (we didn't, because we were separated by thickets) but suddenly they started to fly in front of us. They confused me, so I was a little late with my reaction. But hey, he's there. I also put the pelicans on the list of what I saw.

We passed by the house and continued along the path. It was more crowded on this side. Flamingos with a red detail on the wing predominated, but coexistence also reigned here. Everyone was there and everyone was satisfied. To each his own, so to speak. They were a little far from us, but we managed to register cormorants, gray and white-red flamingos, herons, seagulls. There was no point in going any further. The circle could not be closed due to too much water, and the birds were much further from the shore than in the first part. And so we decided that we had seen enough. That we saw a lot more than we hoped we would. After a full 4 hours of walking and taking photos, we headed for the gate. Then I saw a new calimera, which I was very happy about because the ones in Port Milena were almost all demolished. I cannot understand that this symbol of Ulcinj, an unavoidable detail on postcards from that place, was allowed to simply fall into disrepair. On the right, you could see the Možura hill, which became famous all over the world due to fraud during the construction of the windmills on it. Unfortunately, not for good. In front of us we saw a part of Ulcinj, a city that I love very much and gladly and often return to.

That's how our trip to Solani ended. Full of positive energy and joy of life (maybe this sounds like a phrase, but we really felt that way) we were returning home. I couldn't wait to see how the photos turned out. I don't know about you, but I'm happy. Under the given conditions. The conclusion we reached: we need better binoculars and a better lens. Let's get them by spring. So when the birds from Africa arrive, let's start observing and photographing them again. To join the growing worldwide birdwatching movement.

CLARITY OF TRAVEL