Wednesday, March 19, 2008

When I look around

Just a few steps away from my house are fields and meadows. Well, there are more fields than meadows. About an hour walk from my home, there is a patch of land which was bought or leased by the organization that I work for. We try to protect this small piece of land and we actually manage it the best way we can. There are lots of birds breeding there and you can imagine that it is a bit of heaven among all those corn fields. We had lots of snow and rain yesterday and when there is lots of rainfall, our 'moor' almost changes into lake. I haven't been walking around in those boots since I was a child. It was fun to do it again yesterday, especially when I was almost glued to the mud ground. Standing there in the water I could hear Lapwings making their 'space' sounds. When I was learning about these birds, an ornithologist explained me how to remember their voices. "Can't you hear that their voices are a bit like E.T.'s?", he said. They really are. And they are beautiful birds, especially in flight with their round wings.
The observatory on this piece of land was built last year, about a year ago. It represents a nest. Well... Anyway, it is a nice spot, a bit hidden but when you are in there you can see and hear lots of different animals and plants. A wolf was spotted this winter about 4 km from here. A female. I hope it was not shot by the hunters like a fox which lived about 500 m from this observatory.

Snake's head (Fritillaria meleagris) or močvirska logarica in Slovenian is a protected flower in Slovenia. It is threatened by changing all those beautiful meadows into (corn) fields. Farmers don't care about this. They will when it is gone. I could only helplessly watch during the last two years a large meadow changing into a dump field. They are also rare in our reserve. I am always too late to see them in full bloom but this time I caught them just starting to bloom.
I think you might slowly get bored by so many flower and landscape photos. :) But it is so when spring is coming around the corner. Anyway, it will be Easter soon and then you might see the photos of my colorful eggs and decorations around the house. What I celebrate for Easter is spring, warmth, new life. And it is so nice to get together with a family at Sunday's breakfast.

3 comments:

Victoria said...

Were you interested in birds as much as you are now before you starting work at this job?

Pina said...

I found out just recently that I am not really interested in birds but it is nice to know some things about them, to recognize them by singing and their appearance. It is hard not to learn when you are surrounded by ornithologist... :) I am much more interested in plants, cats (like lynx), dragonflies and other similar creatures. Weird, eh?

paperseed said...

What a perfect spot for such an observatory. And a perfect shot of that breathtaking snake's head flower .