NEW Tracks and Signs Blog

I have set up a new blog! I do like to keep myself busy. It's entitled TRACKS AND SIGNS and will be a place that I can post photos and notes on one of my favaourite subjects. That is, finding the evidence and identifying the clues that betray the presence and activities of Europe's wildlife. That's right, lots of stuff on hoof and paw prints, claw marks, all kinds of dung, droppings, scat, sprait, also pellets, feathers, fur, nests, dens, sets, holes, bones... anything and everything. If you have any photos, comments or suggestions, please send them to me. And please take a look: http://tracksandsigns.blogspot.com/

Beaver Dam

The European Beaver Castor fiber is the largest rodent in Europe. They really are busy animals making dams, forming channels, making trails along which to drag timber. In Poland recently we found dozens of places were they were active, with felled trees, gnawed stumps and tree after tree with tooth marks. This photo shows one of the best dams we found where a deep pool had been created from a tiny stream. I recall a friend in the Czech Republic telling me that the water authority kept destroying a particular dam as it blocked a drainage channnel. But every morning of the next day there was the dam again, freshly built during the night.

Not a lot going on...

It's Sunday morning and there is not a lot going on... indeed, it actually has that "Sunday morning" feel to it. A Syrian Woodpecker called and some Common Crossbills flew over the garden, but that was it. I put some sunflower seed out but nothing has really taken it. Sometimes it is like that, maybe there is a lot of food around, elsewhere. Yet, I reckon that quite a few species will visit once it really gets cold...

Winter Work

I think I can say that my guiding work for this year is now over. Winter is here, there are good birds and other wildlife about but the weather is unpredictable and can be harsh. So in winter I spend my time writing, up-dating my websites, blogging more, dealing with "admin" and checking out new places for future trips.

This autumn has been really great for fungi. The forests I have visited on my recent travels, in Hungary, Poland and Serbia, have been full of toadtools and musrooms. This fresh Hoof Fungus Fomes fomentarius (this photo taken in Poland shows why it is called HOOF fungus) was about 20cm across, but they can grow to well over 30cm across. When Hoof Fungi age they darken and harden. They usually grow on beech, at least in this part of Europe. It is not edible.

Long-eared Owl roosts: an up-date

My friends Milan Ruzic and Katarina Paunovic went out to count the local Long-eared Owls at their roosts in NE Serbia yesterday. As soon as they got home they sent me these photos taken by Katerina. They show parts of the biggest roost which held an amazing 534 birds! Several other roosts nearby had around 250 birds each. Now that's a lot of owls by any standards.

Fire Salamander - Vrsac Hills

I was just looking through some snapshots I took in Serbia recently and I found this one of a Fire Salamander Salamandra salamandra. It was crawling across a forest road in the Vrsac Hills (Vrsacki breg) as they often do just after a downpour. This is classic individual, black with bold yellow markings, which is typical for the Carpathians and its foothills. In some other parts of Europe these placids little creatures can be almost all yellow, more orange and sometimes striped rather than blotched.