A visitor to the local pond

I know I have mentioned the arrival of the storks several times already this year. They are such a sign of summer and given their size and liking for building their monster nests on prominent buildings (churches, mill chimneys etc) they are very noticeable ones at that. However I realised I had not featured a photo of one on the blog. So when this chap started prowling the edges of our local swimming pond looking for frogs in the waterlogged grass I had to take a photo for you.

Mixed Blessings

I start with the riverworks. No photos this time, I can hardly bear to bring myself to watch, but then I don't have to - I can hear them from my desk. Huge diggers are ripping up the riverbed and banks, in their scoops are mixture of historic evidence and young fish and eels - heritage and ecology destroyed. The island had almost disappeared when last I looked, the safe haven for local wildlife destroyed in a few gulps by the monster diggers. The haven gone, the young birds will have fallen prey to the local cats.

The good news is that there is an archaeological symposium in town, let's hope they are able to say something and even be listened to. After that UNESCO arrives, but I fear it will all be too late. By the way I sent a letter to the Mayor of Cesky Krumlov, I shall be interested to see if he replies. It was a very nice letter - offering my assistance. If there is a development I will let you know.

On a brighter note I saw my first stork yesterday, carrying a branch (yes a branch not a stick) in its beak and flying towards Kajov. Let us hope it brings good fortune, we need it.

Some Strange Wading Birds

My friend and I were driving along the road that skirts the edge of Lake Olsina the other day, when we noticed these birds in the water some way off. We stopped the car and looked again. The birds were too far off to be clear even to the zoom lens on my camera. They were, as you can see, elegant white wading birds; large but not large enough to be storks – for that matter it was the wrong time of year and on closer inspection of the photos they do not have the storks black wingmarkings. If anything the closest bird in size, shape and behaviour would be a heron.

My friend who has a house near the lake had never seen them there before. A week ago the lake had been drained in the two-yearly carp harvest and has yet to fill fully. There would seem to be no doubt then that these temporary conditions, with the lake still shallow enough to wade in and the fish thus exposed to the birds' gaze and beak, had attracted the birds. On getting home I took my AA Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe and searched its pages. There it was “largest white heron-like bird of the region, size of a grey heron.” - it was an egret. I should have known, why I had been taking close-ups of the bird at the Zoo Ohrada.