Life and death /  by Arne Bischoff

A Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) defies the monotony of modern rapeseed fields.

Right now in late spring, the rapeseed (canola) flowering is fully on. With its vibrant yellow colors you can be forgiven to think of it of as an epitomy of life. In fact. It's death. Modern rapeseed fields are highly industrialised, highly pesticided, life-defying wastelands. Nothing else is growing in it and next to no animals flourish from it. Some Bluethroats or European Stonechats maybe. But when the vibrant yellow is gone, a brown monoculture of stems is revealed.

This is what you see in the second image. On the right side. The death side. On the left side, you see a stripe of wildflowers long past its bloom, but still full of life and food. A window in a cultural landscape still close to nature that once was. Before industrial agriculture arrived.

Left is life. Right is death. While the sun is setting.

An ode to the Fire salamander /  by Arne Bischoff

Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra).

I stumbled over one of the little Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) fellows this very morning when I was doing my woodpecker monitoring round. And boy, do I love them! It’s a sad kind of love though. When I moved into the area, nearly 20 years ago, they were ubiquitous in the local Harz mountains. Climate change with less precipitation and more heat and especially the Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Salamanderpest) fungus decimated the beautiful salamander heavily. The chytrid fungus has only been described scientifically in 2013. In the past ten years, the fungus has killed 98 percent of the population in the federal state of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), This brings the little guy to the brik of extinction within only ten years.

It’s our shoes and our dogs who trasmit the disease. So please desinfect your shoes regularly and keep your dogs leashed when in Salamander area.

The Botanical Garden /  by Arne Bischoff

A bunch of pasqueflowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris).

My hometown of Goettingen boasts not only one, but three huge Botanical gardens, all founded by the university. As one of Germanys oldest universities, the gardens are very old, too. The oldest of the three, subsequently named “Alter Botanischer Garten”, was founded back in 1736 by famous botanist Albrecht von Haller. All three are quite different, but very beautiful. And throughout the year, they are a place of bloom and beauty. Recently, I visited this “Old Botanical Garten” right in the city center, to photograph the spring bloom. While it was midday and the light very, very bright and harsh, I focussed on my recent area of interest, which is high key.

I concentrated on mainly three topics. Pasqueflower, winter heath and grape hyacinth. But I was very happy to notice the humming and buzzing around me. The gardens are home to a lot of wild bees and also bumblebees. And of course, birds. But this is a matter for a different blog post.

At the fox den again /  by Arne Bischoff

Mr inquisitive!

I know quite a lot of fox and badger dens in my local area. But this one came as a complete surprise. Last year, my friend Luka (make sure to check his work!) called me. His dog, Boris the pointer, had been a good boy and sniffed out a fox den in the most unlikely of places: inside a huge stack of wood right beside a forest track only a kilometre from the next village. Fear not: Boris only pointed to the young foxes, but did them no harm.

It turned out the little fox cubs had come out every evening to play and explore the huge world outside their stack. And this is right when I went there.

The curious little guys where punctual like a clock. About an hour before sunset they came out. I usually heard them sniffing and playing before I saw them. They never strayed far from the safety of the stack though and if, then in the opposite direction of me into thick thorns and bushes. One pup was particulary inquistive and hit the forest road more than once. Exploring and sniffing. But even he kept quite close to the stack which provided him for safety and me with a quite ugly backdrop.

The experience was still beautiful though: Seeing the young cubs play and explore. I even saw mother bring food once and call them out. It was only then when I saw all four pups together.

I hope all five of them made it and they are happily roaming the area. Looking forward to seeing next generation of young foxes in a few weeks time. At another place. Special thanks to Paul for your company!

Spring again /  by Arne Bischoff

Common liverleaf | Leberblühmchen | Hepatica nobilis

I nearly missed those beauties and all the other early blossomer this year. Most of them are gone already, hanging their heads. But one or two remain still beautiful. And of course there is a lot more beauty in an early spring German beech forest.

The dirt spot /  by Arne Bischoff

I mainly blog about birds, nature and nature photography. But I happen to be an enthusiastic mountainbike rider for longer than I am into birds and I do work in bicycle media, too. So cycling and especially mountainbiking is quite a big thing in my life.

Recently, my friends from Trailtech Mountainbiking accomplished a community pump track project. A pump track is a circuit of rollers, banked turns and features, designed to be ridden completely by "pumping" – generating momentum by up and down body movements, instead of pedaling.

Kudos and a massive thank you to everyone involved in the project. The place has quickly become an attraction in the small community and more: a wonderfully inclusive, inviting and immersive spot for young and old, bicycle affected or not - for everyone! And boy, do I love this pumping!