Batova reserve

Location and specifications

The site is located in north-eastern Bulgaria, to the north of Varna, and covers the Batova river valley and the bigger part of Frangensko Plateau, including the coastline from Albena to Zlatni Pyasatsi Resorts and the adjacent shallow littoral area. To the north it borders on the villages of Sokolnik, Odurtsi, Hrabrovo, Ljahovo and Obrochishte, to the east - on the Black Sea coastline south of Albena tourist resort down to Zlatni Pyasatsi. To the south-west of Zlatni Pyasatsi the border passes along the edge of the plateau north of the villages of Vinitsa residential area, Kamenar, Vladislavovo and Aksakovo. Near the village of Izvorsko it turns north through Novakovo and Debrene to Sokolnik. There are several types of habitats on the site’s territory, but the biggest share belongs to the broadleaved forests of Quercus cerris, Q. frainetto and Carpinus betulus and the farmlands. The rest of the site’s area is occupied by open grasslands, at places overgrown with shrub vegetation, pastures, meadows, orchards and vineyards. The latter are located around the settlements. The region of the Batova estuary is occupied by natural longoze flooded forests of Baltata with marshland hygrophyte formations. The longoze flooded forest is dominated by Fraxinus oxycarpa, Ulmus minor, Quercus pedunculiflora, Acer campestrе and Alnus glutinosa, with undergrowth of Crataegus monogyna, Cornus mas and Cornus sanguinea, often combined with mesophyte and hygrophyte grass vegetation (Bondev 1991). Other typical plants are the lianas and climbing plants as Clematis vitalba, Smilax exelsa, Periploca graeca, etc.

Birds

Batova is a complex of different habitats, typical both for woodland bird species and for waterbirds and farmland birds. It supports 184 bird species, 50 of which are listed in the Red Data Book for Bulgaria (1985). Of the birds occurring there 80 species are of European conservation concern (SPEC) (BirdLife International, 2004), 7 of them being listed in category SPEC 1 as globally threatened, 24 in SPEC 2 and 49 in SPEC 3 as species threatened in Europe. The area provides suitable habitats for 70 species, included in Annex 2 of the Biodiversity Act, which need special conservation measures, of which 62 are listed also in Annex I of the Birds Directive. The site’s most outstanding feature is its location on the western Black Sea migration flyway, the Via Pontica. Three flows of migrating birds, coming from the Dobrudzha meet over the Batova river valley – those from the interior of the Dobrudzha Plateau, those following the coastline and flying from cape Kaliakra across the sea directly to Baltata flooded forest. The most intensive flow of migrating storks and pelicans in north-eastern Bulgaria passes through the Batova river valley, using the valley between Frangensko and Dobrudzha Plateaus to gain height and flying low above the plateau itself. Because of its importance for over 30 migrating soaring species Batova is defined as a bottleneck migration site of global importance. 11% of the migratory birds fly not higher than 150 m above land, and 35% of the migratory birds fly between 160 and 500 m. At Batova was recorded also the biggest number of migratory White Pelicans Pelecanus onocrotalus and Cranes Grus grus along the northern Black Sea coast. The forests in Batova are used regularly by raptors as roosting sites during migration. The coastal parts of the site are of key importance for the migration of Common Gulls Larus canus. Significant numbers of waterbirds overwinter in the area of Batova, mainly geese Anser albifrons, which stay there between December and March. They overnight in the sea and every day they fly over Batova in order to feed in the inland arable lands. Often they land to feed in the arable land in the limits of the proposed SPA. Batova is one of the most valuable sites in the country on European Union scale for the Middle-spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos medius and Semi-collared Flycatcher Ficedula semitorquata. The Green Woodpecker Picus viridis, the Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra, the Pied Wheatear Oenanthe pleschanka, the Greater Short-toed Lark Calandrella brachydactyla, the Olive-three Warbler Hippolais olivetorum, the Barred Warbler Sylvia nisoria, the Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana, etc. also breed there in considerable numbers.