The
Urban Birder in
BBC’s The One Show’s David Lindo writes for Bird Watching
A
bi-linguist I’m not, as my grasp of Polish is rudimentary despite having had a long-term Polish girlfriend many moons ago. During our relationship I only managed to learn how to say hello, thank you and ankle (don’t ask!) so, when I met my guide, who had come to pick me up from Krakow Airport, I proudly trotted off my entire Polish repertoire – an act that took all of five seconds. He smiled quizzically at me as he probably thought: “Who is this idiot?” He was a lovely man, though, whose name I couldn’t even begin to pronounce. It was Przemyslaw and I’m certain that even he had trouble pronouncing it. Eventually, after consulting his wife, I realised that Przemyslaw sounded like Chemink (as in Temminck’s). I re-christened him Chem from then on. My first day in this architecturally beautiful city was spent virtually walking from dawn to dusk. Chem was a big believer in leaving the car at home and getting involved in bipedal action. Sunrise saw us walking through the old town sector observing plentiful Fieldfares and Blackbirds hopping around on the lawns of Planty, the strip of parkland that encircles the core of the city. Our destination was Las Wolski, a large tract of forest in the western suburbs. Las Wolski makes up a third of the total 1,500 hectares of forest that remains within the city. I had a fantastic time listening to the multitudes of Chaffinches singing their subtly different-sounding songs, and gangs of Hawfinch that seemed to be everywhere. Chem’s command of English was pretty good, but he was seriously struggling to understand me when I shouted out the names of the birds excitedly in English. Unless the words hello, thank you and ankle were involved, there was no point in him even thinking about telling me what their equivalent names were in Polish. We were both frustrated until I had a eureka moment. ‘Dryocopus martius’ I exclaimed in pigeon Latin. A broad smile of recognition came to his face as he corrected me fluently. We had just seen a Black Woodpecker. All those pre-teen years spent learning every single Latin name in my copy of The Birds Of Britain And Europe with North Africa and The Middle East had not been in vain! Thus started a really fruitful birding relationship as we clocked up some of the woodland speciality species. I was delighted that I was able to surprise Chem on his own home turf by finding two locally rare species – a spanking male Collared Flycatcher and a handsome male Middle
City list: 226
Krakow
Spotted Woodpecker, which was also a lifer for me. Later, we went for a walk along the natural banks of the nearby River Vistula where, aside from seeing his first Common Tern and Swallow for the year, we also saw a couple of frog species, a few grass snakes and evidence of tree felling by the local population of European Beavers. The next morning I ventured out on my own to explore the eastern part of the Vistula. I was rewarded by the sight of an utterly beautiful male Common Redstart flitting in a riverside bush, a Kingfisher on the opposite bank, a Common Sandpiper teetering along the muddy foreshore, tons more Fieldfare and Blackbirds and three White Storks soaring overhead. Black Redstarts are common Krakow residents, with over 100 breeding pairs, but I could only manage a solitary fleeting glance of a female.
We were both frustrated until I had a eureka moment. ‘Dryocopus martius’ I exclaimed in pigeon Latin I had arranged to meet Chem in town after lunch as he was going to break his walking habit and drive us 30km out of town to visit Spytkowice Ponds in the Upper Vistula Valley, a large area of reed fringed lakes. I didn’t know what to look at first; should I seek out the Bittern that was booming in the reedbeds next to me, the Great Egret that took flight nearby, the ten airborne Marsh Harriers or the Whiskered Terns that were cavorting with the Common Terns? My mind was officially blown when I listened to countless Sedge Warblers chirping away whilst a Great Reed Warbler knocked out its song and a Savi’s Warbler reeled. Chem almost had to carry me back to his car slumped over his shoulder! Krakow is a very interesting venue for urban birding with birds like Penduline Tit in Bagry, Grey-headed Woodpecker and Ural Owl in Puszcza Niepolomicka (a forest on the east of Krakow) and good wintering waterfowl along the inner city stretch of the River Vistula. I’m definitely going to go back for a second look. ■ For more information, visit www.mto-kr.pl/index.php and www.poland.travel ■ David flew with easyJet and stayed at the Hotel Warszawski: www.hotelwarszawski.pl
Best site: Las Wolski www.birdwatching.co.uk
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