After some very hot days here in February, we have to ask: is this winter already over? It would be a pity!
Here some photos from Switerland I took few weeks ago.
Winter in the mountains
Alps
French Alps
Another short trip – this time to France. I met a friend and college, Julien R., to record and discuss Crossbills. We visited different places in the French Alps. The days started long before sunrise and we hiked through the mountains during the early morning. Here are some impressions:
As we hoped, we found very interesting crossbills. When I show you the photos, they look like every other Red Crossbill. You need to hear the voice of these birds to be able to recognize them. As this is the topic of my PhD, it was really fascinating to meet some of these special birds of the southern Alps, which I heard on my computer many times but not in reality.
Now some more photos from the trip:
Archive complete
It’s done: all biIt’s done: all bird species of the Western Palearctic that I photographed until December 2016 are in the online archive. Finally I added photos of one of my favourite groups – the Grouses. All birds of this group are hard to find and hard to observe – so every encounter is an adventure.
I have spent many hours finding them, watching them, approaching them without disturbing them and finally photographing them. Some of them live in the densest thicket like the hazel grouse and it is easy to understand that they are hardly observable.
Other species of the family are found in the open like the Ptarmigan. However, they live in the high montane regions and, thanks to their camouflage, it takes a long time to discover them in winter.
They sometimes dig themselve into the snow for resting and all you see later are their tracks.
But as soon as you are rewarded with a real encounter, you know it was worth the effort.
Two trips into pristine areas
Few weeks ago, I returned from a trip to the Baikal area in southeastern Russia. Together with Malte B. we were looking for different kind of animals and pristine landscape. It was a sucessful trip and I will surely show you further photos soon
Right afterwards, I accompanied an excursion of the University to the Ticino area in southern Switzerland. We visited a valley with still quite pristine landscape. We came just right for the flowering of Alpine Roses. Here you see three photos of the amazing colourful meadows:
The different flowers in combination with many different insects and birds have been a real highlight!
BWE: Val Piora in southern Swiss
I missed to publish a blogpost as I am travelling at the moment…
Here some photos of a trip, I did with Manfred K. to the Val Piora in July 2014. The landscape is formed by many lakes and steep mountains. Worth to visit…
Green Sawfly (Rhogogaster viridis)
View over the Val Piora
Waterfall in the Val Piora
a young Marmot
Young Alpine Marmot (Marmota marmota)
Alpine Roses in the Val Piora
Fat Dormouse eating cherries at night
BWE: The Julian Alps in Slowenia
The Alps always fascinated me a lot. In September 2014, I decided to give the slowenian part a chance. As there was very bad weather when I arrived, I drove at once further to the south. On my way back, I was a little bit more lucky with the weather – but I had poorly just one day of time left. Nevertheless, it was a nice day.
Take a look and enjoy the beauty of the eastern Alps!
Edelweiss in the mountains
Beautiful Wild Europe (BWE) – The project
Thailand, USA, Australia, New Zealand… some typical holiday destinations for many people. It is hip to go there, to be able to talk with the others who have been there. Reasons to visit these countries are often the amazing landscape and nature. At the same time, few people are aware of the beautiful wilderness in Europe, of the breathtaking landscapes, of the very special animals and the beautiful flowers.
For this reason, I thought about a project for a long time: I want to show this beauty, to make people aware, that it is not really necessary to travel always that far. To show that the beautiful places are right in front of our door or not far away. And to show, what we lost already and what we will loose, if we proceed in our way of life.
Within the scope of this project, I will present different areas in Europe, special animals or plants or just special places. I already started with some posts – and I will proceed.
Maybe, you get inspired by these places and next time, it is not Vietnam but the Balkan you travel to!
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