An ode to the Fire salamander / April 13, 2024 by Arne Bischoff

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 / April 1, 2024 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 / March 24, 2024 by Arne Bischoff

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!

Pheasant tales: Beautiful bird, sad bird / July 17, 2023 by Arne Bischoff

A large colorful bird with a long tail (Common Pheasant).

When it comes to splendour and grand air, not a lot of European birds rival the Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus). But this is where the sad part starts. Because it is actually not even European.

Jagdfasan. The pheasant which lives to be hunted.

The Common Pheasant is native to East Asia. During the medieval period it has been introduced to European courts and royalty. With the beginning of the 19th Century humans began to breed and raise Pheasants to be released into the wild only for hunting purposes. This sad practice continues to this day and is reflected in the Common Pheasants German name “Jagdfasan”, which literally translates to “The pheasant for hunt”. The population is not self-sufficient, so every year a new breed of the colorful Gallinaceous birds is released to “freedom” to be shot. The birds that escape the shooting will sooner or later die of cold or predation.

Colourful beauty

Whenever I see a Pheasant, I feel both: Joy and sadness. Joy, because it’s such a gloriously beautiful creature. And sadness, because it only lives to be shot.

Lovely local Tawny Owls / July 11, 2023 by Arne Bischoff

After a one year break, my well known urban Tawny owls came back to the local park nearby to bread. You recognise the female owl by its distinct reddish hue. In 2021 it bred downtown, 2022 it evaded an Eagle owl, and 2023 it came back.

The early owl

I was more than a little surprised when I heard the little owlets begging as early as the first week of April. The next few days revealed three branchlings - one distinctly smaller - who all seem to have made it through the dangerous first days and weeks before they finally learned to fly and I lost track of it.

Spring love

I visited the owls nearly every day for a period of nearly two weeks. By day, they and their watchful parents preferred to hide within the dense branches of a Thuja. After dusk they roamed a considerably larger area, sitting every night in different branches of the surrounding trees, begging. With the owls, the park vegetation grew and grew, too. A lovely spring!

Seems sleepy, but always keeps an eye open. A parent owl.

Early blossomers: Liverleaf, wood anemone and snowdrop / February 6, 2023 by Arne Bischoff

Right now, while I am writing these lines, the first liverleafs stretch their heads through the ground. Time for me to revisit two wonderful days in spring 2022 with lots of liverleaf (Anemone hepatica), wood anemone (Anemonoides nemorosa and Anemonoides ranunculoides) and snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis).

I am not a botanist, unfortunately. I had a flower lover with me, and without her, I would not have taken these images. This makes me very thankful. I myself overlook the wonder and beauty of plants way too easily, as I have very little knowledge about those beauties.

That’s why there is not much of a story that I can tell here. I leave it to you to behold and wonder and make your own story of it.