It is 2 more species than I saw in Poland in this all year 
Great shot of White Stork
Trip Report Germany / Poland
8 - 14 June 2008
We flew to Berlin on an empty Ryanair flight. We wanted to take our rented car into Poland but were told if we parked it unattended and it got stolen we would be liable. As they don’t have that many car park attendants in the huge expanse of the Warta National Park we were a bit worried.
Finally in 32 degrees heat we set off to our friends house in nearby Hangelsberg halfway between Berlin and the Polish border where we sat in the garden watching Redstart feed their young, Pied Flycatcher pose on the fence and Firecrest pause stunningly on low branches. We were amazed to see a Pine Martin late one evening on the bonnet of the car trying to eat the windscreen wipers! Also a Raccoon came into the garden one evening while I was sitting writing my notes, completely ignored me and continued on its way. Everywhere we could hear the lovely fluting call of Golden Oriole.
[ATTACH]154890[/ATTACH]Opposite was a large meadow which we visited next day and saw Red Kite, Black Kite, Buzzards and Black Woodpecker. One evening a Hoopoe called just once, much to the mystification of a local friend who is an expert birder. He hadn’t heard or seen one in twenty years and tried to convince us we hadn’t heard it. Our case was made for us when one was seen near the football pitch a while later!
Some days later he took us to see a Green Sandpiper he had seen nearby. We couldn’t relocate it but he did show us an amazing Kingfisher nest hole in the muddy roots of an upturned tree complete with a tiny landing platform!!
On Monday we drove to a town called Brück to visit relatives. Here a Stork nested on top of a chimney stack and we saw a Blacksmith working on a horse in a field - it was all very picturesque. We spent an age tracking down a persistent call we didn’t recognise which turned out to be an Icterine Warbler, something we were to hear often in Poland. Brück is on the Berlin ring road, the equivalent of the M25 and if you continue on round to Garlitz which we did last year, you are guaranteed views of Great Bustard. Driving back we saw a Goshawk perched alongside the Autobahn!
It had been baking hot for weeks and the danger of fire was at Level 4 -the highest. This meant you were strictly forbidden from entering the forests because of the fire hazard. We were ourselves stopped by three irate Polizei but our accommodation was in the forest! It did mean we couldn’t cycle to see if our Osprey was breeding in the same place it had for the last three visits.
We drove to the Polish border along an arrow straight road, the B1, which can often be blocked by motorcycle accidents. When you get to Kostryyn go straight over the roundabout and you quickly arrive at the Warta Mouth Nature Reserve office. In fact it’s easier to drive past than in! Here you can get maps and brochures. Opposite is a trail which leads off along a river where you can see Black Tern and White Winged Black Terns. Further on is a tower but we couldn’t see much from it. Parking along the grass verges on this road is very dangerous as the traffic thunders along here. Slonsk is a short drive away and if you want to reach the Betonka you take a left at the new roundabout and pass either side of the church on the cobblestones. Behind it is a shell of a building where you turn left then next right and you are on the betonka, a low concrete road leading into the reserve. You can drive along it up to the bandstand where you park. Walking from here to the bridge we saw 4 White Tailed Eagle! (I would have been happy with one!) Egrets and Marsh Harrier. It seemed strangely devoid of ducks apart from Garganey and Shelduck. It was an amazing place and I can’t speak highly enough of it. We had Corncrake calling and Snipe flying around us. We saw a lot of Sedge Warblers but none turned out to be Aquatic. (In fact we never saw or heard them in our two visits. We also missed out on Night Heron but the whole area is a brilliant place and you can spend ages strolling to the bridge and back.)
The next day we went back to the Reserve but this time at Kostrzyn we turned left at the petrol station, past the MacDonald’s and drove towards Dabroszy. Here you take a right before the church and drive down a track as far as you want. Wherever you stop seems brilliant. It was one of the best spots I’ve ever come across. We saw Barred Warbler straight away and heard Corncrake right next to the car. A Corn Bunting sang from a post and we drove on to a notice board at a polder and parked up. Here in a dead tree a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was carrying on an argument with a Tree Sparrow right in front of us. Then a River Warbler reeled photogenically from the top of another tree. We sat spellbound in the car for an age while this went on around us then went for a walk along the canal. We heard Bittern booming and you could see where beaver had gnawed away at the base of some trees. Cuckoos seemed to be everywhere and we saw Nightingale and Red backed Shrike. It was here I saw my only Oriole.
[ATTACH]154888[/ATTACH]All in all it was a brilliant place and they say you can see every European bird here except maybe Wallcreeper and I can well believe it. We only had time for two short exploratory visits and I would like to have seen Night Heron, Aquatic Warbler or Little Grebes but the water level was very low after so many weeks without rain and I am already planning a return trip in October.
Birdlist
1. Great crested Grebe
2. Cormorant
3. Bittern
4. Great white Egret
5. Grey Heron
6. Crane
7. White Stork
8. Black Stork
9. Mute Swan
10. Greylag Goose
11. Shelduck
12. Mallard
13. Garganey
14. Red Kite
15. Black Kite
16. Marsh Harrier
17. Ring- tailed
18. Sparrowhawk
19. Goshawk
20. Common Buzzard
21. White tailed Eagle
22. Hobby
23. Kestrel
24. Corncrake
25. Quail
26. Coot
27. Black winged Stilt
28. Oystercatcher
29. Ringed Plover
30. Redshank
31. Ruff
32. Black tailed Godwit
33. Common Snipe
34. Common Gull
35. Little Tern
36. White winged black Tern
37. Woodpigeon
38. Stock Dove
39. Cuckoo
40. Swift
41. Kingfisher
42. Hoopoe
43. Wryneck
44. Black Woodpecker
45. Green Woodpecker
46. Lesser spotted Woodpecker
47. Greater spotted Woodpecker
48. Skylark
49. Swallow
50. House Martin
51. Tree Pipit
52. Grey Wagtail
53. Yellow Wagtail
54. Wren
55. Robin
56. Nightingale
57. Redstart
58. Black Redstart
59. Blackbird
60. Starling
61. Song Thrush
62. Savi’s Warbler
63. River Warbler
64. Grasshopper Warbler
65. Sedge Warbler
66. Reed Warbler
67. Marsh Warbler
68. Great Reed Warbler
69. Icterine Warbler
70. Wood Warbler
71. Chiffchaff
72. Willow Warbler
73. Whitethroat
74. Barred Warbler
75. Blackcap
76. Goldcrest
77. Firecrest
78. Pied Flycatcher
79. Long tailed Tit
80. Crested Tit
81. Blue Tit
82. Great Tit
83. Willow Tit
84. Nuthatch
85. Treecreeper
86. Great grey Shrike
87. Red backed Shrike
88. Golden Oriole
89. Jay
90. Magpie
91. Jackdaw
92. Raven
93. Hooded Crow
94. Rook
95. House Sparrow
96. Tree Sparrow
97. Chaffinch
98. Goldfinch
99. Hawfinch
100. Siskin
101. Linnet
102. Yellowhammer
103. Fieldfare
104. Reed Bunting
105. Corn Bunting
106. Scarlett Rosefinch
107. Bullfinch
Very nice list, savi It is 2 more species than I saw in Poland in this all year
Great shot of White Stork