Despite the recent evening thunderstorms, the watertable in the wetlands at the end of the road has been subsiding. I reckoned it would be dry enough to wade through the reedbeds from one end to the other. Eddie and I donned our Wellingtons and forced our way through over 300m of dense vegetation, tall reeds and bullrushes. I shipped some rather foetid water in my left welly, but otherwise we got through OK. On the way, I snapped some good birdlife - this kite (right - can anyone positively identify this bird of prey?) and three herons that fly between here and the pond on ul. Pozytywki. Below: A grey heron coming in to land, another already perched in a tree top.
At the deepest, the water was some 80cm deep, though the bottom was muddy, our boots would often get stuck. The reeds towered over our heads and their density made progress difficult. The right approach is simply to power through regardless.
It was hard physical work but worth it - this is my first crossing of the wetlands since October 2004 (a year of drought, when the reedbeds were bone dry). Left: Eddie the Explorer manfully making his way through the two-metre high reeds. Having such unclaimed, wild terrain so close to our house and within the city limits is a great privilege; I hope that development and the city hall's desire for Order and Progress does not deprive us of our suburban wilderness. Below: The epicentre of the wetlands. Still quite watery here.
This time last year:
Rainbows and rainfall records
Miserable grey little island
Nice comments
ReplyDeleteWhat is the status of the Mole (kret) situation?
Miguel, I admire your tenacity in taking on the wetlands. I would have said that the "kite" is in fact a buzzard. Buzzards have been getting busy here in Middle England of late and I would guess it's no different in Poland. I see a fine pair of buzzards most days as I cycle the 3/4 mile drive of my homestead. They love gliding round on the thermals the hot sunny weather provides, especially over fields of ripe cereals.
ReplyDeleteWhilst watching a demonstration of birds of prey at the Game Fair at Blenheim Palace today, the handler noted that buzzards are now the most common, with kestrels in second place.
Moles - nothing new to report! It looks like the flooding did the trick. Fingers crossed for the future.
ReplyDeleteRicardo - Buzzards, kestrels and kites - am not up on Polish birds of prey, will consult the Wiki and check it out.
M., from Duffield, Derbyshire.
It was Marsh Harrier (Blotniak Stawowy) for sure. This is a rare bird under the protection of the law! How nice to see that bird above our local wetlands, the old Zgorzala Lake =)
ReplyDeletehttp://jerzygrzesiak.pl/lista90.html
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%82otniak_stawowy
Greetings for Duffield...
By the way, when you spoke about buzzards, you reminded me one of my very favourite old song "Old Turkey Buzzard" from 1968 great adventure western "MacKenna's Gold"(Peck, Sharif). The song composed by Quincy Jones and performed by Jose Feliciano brought us to the mysterious Arizona's desert...wow! =)
ReplyDeletehttp://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=n6GBgs2F5no
Marsh harrier! That's cool!
ReplyDelete