Wilson's Wildlife
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Birds
    • Finches, Sparrows and Buntings.
    • Warblers
    • Woodpeckers / creepers.
    • Sea Birds
    • Raptors
    • Hummingbirds
    • Tanagers.
    • Water birds
    • Herons, egrets and bitterns
    • Waders
    • Ducks, Geese and Swans
    • Other European birds
    • Other North and Central American Birds
    • Other South American Birds
    • Waxwing Gallery
    • Osprey gallery
  • Bugs
    • Butterflies
    • moths
    • Flies
    • Bees and wasps
    • Beetles
    • Dragonflies
    • Damselflies
    • Crickets and Grasshoppers
    • Spiders
  • Mammals
    • European
    • African
    • American
    • Australasian
    • Asian
  • Reptiles
    • European
    • American
    • African
    • Asian
    • Australasian
  • Amphibians
    • Frogs and toads
  • Fish
    • Sea Fish
    • Freshwater Fish
  • Contact
  • Talks
  • Links

Poland

31/3/2017

 
A 4-day school trip to Krakow proved quite interesting for wildlife.  Black Redstarts were as common as Robins, Jackdaws were different (a different race anyway) Fieldfares were approachable (incredibly tame compared to ours) and my one and only winner led me a very merry dance...     
Picture
Picture
Comma, 31/03/17, castle grounds, Krakow, Poland. Unusually warm weather (20 degrees!) brought these guys out.
Picture
Black Redstart, 31/03/17, castle grounds, Krakow, Poland. Very vocal birds at this time of year, common too.
Picture
Fieldfare, 31/03/17, Krakow, Poland. I got within 3 metres of this bird. Incredibly tame here and very abundant.

Auschwitz - Birkenau

Obviously, you don't come to Auschwitz to appreciate wildlife.  Nevertheless, it was heartening to see that some birds were thriving here.      
Picture
Picture
Jackdaw (soemmerringii race) 01/04/17, Auschwitz, Poland. Much brighter around the neck than our version. Loads of them here.
Picture
Jay, 01/04/17, Auschwitz, Poland. Extremely tame here foraging between the prison blocks.
Picture
White Wagtail, 01/04/17, Birkenau Death Camp, Poland. A pair were building a nest in the remains of a collapsed gas chamber.
Picture
Was "The Great Escape" inspired by moles I wonder?
 The next morning I made my own great escape.  Leaving our hotel at 6am, I took a taxi to Las Wolski Forest  25 minutes west of Krakow.  I had just 2 hours of freedom to search for winners before heading back to re-join our busy schedule.  This forest was home to 8 species of woodpecker, the UK has only 3.  Surely I would score here?     
Picture
Middle Spotted Woodpecker, 02/04/17, Las Wolski Forest, Krakow, Poland. At last a winner! You need patience and perseverance here, Greater-spotteds far outnumber other species.

Super Saturday

11/3/2017

 
Occasionally, but not often, you get one of those days when you cannot put a foot wrong.  If I had avoided wildlife completely today, and gone to Deepdale instead, I would have seen PNE beat Reading 3-0 which would have been great.  Instead though, I chose wildlife, and I'm glad I did.   

The Leeds-Liverpool Canal at Spark Lane Rufford this morning was, for some reason, alive with Pike...
Picture
Pike. An eleven pounder. Spark Lane, Rufford, Lancs. Caught on a sardine I bought from Morrisons the same morning.
Picture
Moments later, this Pike. My biggest ever: 12.5 pounds. Many thanks to those incredulous ramblers who stopped to take pictures.
Picture
Pike: 6.75 pounds. Ordinarily a good fish, but overshadowed by the previous two monsters.
Picture
And another Pike, much smaller this time, on a lure
Arriving home at around noon, I went out again on a shopping errand.  Just around the corner, a small group of birds caught my attention...
Picture
Waxwing, 11/03/17, Blackthorn Drive, Penwortham. There were 14 of them altogether, snatching flies from the air like flycatchers.
Not finished yet, a trip to Martin Mere completed our day.  Mark and I headed for the hides whilst the wives and kids perused the enclosures. 
Picture
Whooper Swan, 11/03/17, Martin Mere Lancs.
Picture
Common Toads, 11/03/17, on the footpath near Ron Barker hide. Martin mere, Lancs. Of course: its that time of year again.

Mucky Ducks

7/3/2017

 
 "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence", or so they say.  Well I reckon that's about right, no thanks to our ducks who have turned our back garden into a mud-bath. 
Picture
Almost adult Mallards! 09/03/17, back garden, Penortham, Lancs.

    Author

    Tony Wilson.
    Amateur wildlife photographer.   

    Archives

    May 2019
    August 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.