I flew into Poznan on 12.02.07 with Ryan air from Stansted. The weather was 0C and snow lay on the ground. Airfare, booked back in December was £45 return and the flight was 1hr 40 mins.
The following day was spent at the University's physics faculty where I met with Professor Wojciech Nawrocik along with the dean of the faculty and a selection of other professors. A superb university and a great visit.
Following this I met up with Irek Odrzykoski, (first contacted through www.birdingpal.org) who had first given me a lift to the university and with whom I was birding the following day. We discussed the areas where we were going before tram 14 returned me to the city centre and a rendezvous with my friend Arek Dobrowolski for a night of vodka and beer. Enough said.
8.00a.m. the following morning, Irek was picking me up for the half hour drive to the Warta valley south east of the city. A few stops were made, realising a pair of flighty goosander and a selection of nuthatches, short toed treecreepers and tits and finches. Further along the road we stopped near Rogalin for a longer walk along the valley, heading north west. Here there is the baroque classicist palace that belonged to the distinguished Raczynski family. In the gardens are three ancient oaks, named Lech, Rus and Czech to remember the three legendary brothers that founded Poland, Russia and Czechoslovakia. Shortly after the occupation by the USSR in the 40's Rus died but the military/powers that be tried to change the names of the trees to stop it becoming synonomous with their occupation! This was an area of ancient oak forest and river channels. Evidence of beaver were observed along the water line. In these areas, oak trees are worshipped and occasionally an old oak could be found containing candles and photos of the mother Mary.
On this walk many Great spotted woodies were observed along with nuthatches and more S.T. treecreepers. A black woodie was heard calling: one of my target birds and a new one for me. More of the oaks were scanned, eventually realising a middle spotted woodpecker, that showed well and flew into a tree not 70metres away, to be followed by a black woodpecker. 2 new birds in one view, along with an LSW in the top most branches. Just to complete the moment a ringtail hen harrier flew through! Superb views of the latter. The black woodie then performed well, giving a selection of its calls. Eurasian treecreepers were noted on the return to the car along with the now regular call of STT. Another way up the valley we stopped at Radzewice and walked to a wooden shooting tower. Cranes were heard cronking and a common buzzard flew over. A flight of whooper swans flew in and a Great Grey Shrike showed well on the opposite side of the water channel. Sandwiches and lemon tea were taken before a drive searching fields before we arrived at tributaries of the River Gluszynka (North west of Kornik). Two stops here to check the mainly frozen patches produced 3 pintail, a family party of three cranes, greylags followed by a flyover of tundra bean geese (28). A small number of skylarks were witnessed heading north and several gull sp were checked without any exceptional observations. The second stop produced a lone shelduck, itself an uncommon sight wintering in inland Poland. Back towards Poznan via Tulce meant a stop at Malta Lake to check for caspian and yellow legged gulls but none were on offer. A trip around the cathedral completed a long and superb day out.
My thanks to Irek for his generosity and friendship during my time in Poznan, especially for giving up a day in the laboratories of the biology faculty at AMU. I will return for more birding at a more appropriate time of the year. The memory of the woodpeckers and hen harrier will remain long and fast; just one of those special birding moments.
The flight home the following day was made in snow, rain and fog, so Wednesday proved to be the best day of the week for birding, what fortune!
Species list for the day, plus a few sightings in the city:
grey heron, mute swan, whooper swan, bean goose, greylag goose, shelduck, mallard, pintail, goosander, hen harrier, common buzzard, kestrel, moorhen, crane, black headed gull, herring gull, common gull, collared dove, wood pigeon, black woodpecker, green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, middle spotted woodpecker, lesser spotted woodpecker, skylark, wren, robin, mistle thrush, blackbird, great tit, blue tit, marsh tit, long tailed tit (continental), nuthatch, eurasian treecreeper, short toed treecreeper, great grey shrike, mappie, jay, raven, carrion crow, rook, jackdaw, starling, house sparrow, chaffinch, goldfinch, bullfinch.
For my local sightings see www.fly.to/bsbg
A few more photos from my trip. Plenty of evidence of beaver, something I had not seen before, plus the huge empty mansionwith its own mausoleum at the end of the drive. Must have been something in its heyday
Jono
Sounds like a nice trip and thoughtful pictures too. Thanks for sharing.
Joanne