Sunday, 20 December 2020

A symbolic collapse

My daily walks involve various routes centred on Jeziorki, heading off on different compass points each day to avoid monotony. Today I headed south-west; crossing the tracks to ulica Gogolińska to pop by Zgorzała before checking the stretch of the S7 extention between Zgorzała and Zamienie. On my way, just across Warsaw's southernmost borders, I passed the hunters' stand (in Polish ambona, literally pulpit), which to my surprise is no longer upright. Was it brought down with or without Man's agency? If with - is this the work of hunt saboteurs? Landowners looking to clear space for new development? The result of a well-attended party involving grubasy and tłuste kiełbasy? Or did it just collapse on its own as a result of rotting timbers and neglect, aided by a strong southeasterly wind? 


My suspicion is that it just collapsed. Compared to other hunters' stands I have seen, this one was rather shoddily built, and on my visits up top, I didn't spy any sign of human presence - either hunters, or teenagers or local devotees of feldalkohol. 


Since the development of the fields between ul. Gogolińska and ul. Postępu in Zgorzała, wildlife has moved on, some up to Jeziorki and its lakelands, the majority no doubt in the opposite direction, further away from Warsaw, towards Lesznowola and beyond. I have seen hare, deer and wild boar around here, the former being most common. Those that remain will no longer need to worry about being blasted by hunters. Below: the stand as it looked in May.


Its collapse is sad; it stood as a relic of an earlier age, when Warsaw ended abruptly and where rural life began. Today, beyond its boundary, the exurbs continue marching outward, swallowing peripheral towns like Piaseczno and Pruszków and Otwock as the sprawl develops.

Hunting gives way to dog-walking, and I must say, I'm rather glad.

This time six years ago:

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