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... Auschwitz - Birkenau Obviously, you don't come to Auschwitz to appreciate wildlife. Nevertheless, it was heartening to see that some birds were thriving here. 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?
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... 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... 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.
"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.
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AuthorTony Wilson. Archives
May 2019
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