MELTING WATER

Sunrise 08.24 - Sunset 17.23

Its moist on the dirt tracks. The upper layer has melted and turned into a slippery, muddy substance. Winter has retrieved for a while and temperature has risen to well above zero. You can feel a subtle touch of spring. But make no mistake, winter isn’t far off. Snow is melting, some small areas of white remain on the north slopes of hills. Crystal clear pools of melting water are all around. Small display windows of the world below the surface.

HOAR FROST

Sunrise 08.30 - Sunset 17.15

This day you could experience the growth of hoar frost on trees. In the morning the trees, the branches were clear no ice. During the rest of the morning and the beginning of midday a thin fog arrived and the hoar frost was growing on the branches. An amazing experience. Mostly you wake up and you are surprised by hoar frost but this time it was setting in a few hours, almost in front of your eyes. And just as sudden as it appeared it disappeared. A few hours hoar frost this day.

RAVENS

Sunrise 08.32 - Sunset 17.12

Some days, when temperatures are low, life seems to have abandoned the woods. No birds, no forest creatures and plants and trees are in rest. But luckily some semi domesticated animals still roam the forests. The animals are set free in nature and have to manage even in these harsh conditions. But they do well. It are friendly animals sometimes lonely and sometime in small herds. Once they were wild and belonged here. Perhaps in some decades, some generations they will be wild again…

For the ravens it doesn’t matter what is going on. It is mating season for these beautiful birds and you hear them from a distant. Searching for a partner, claiming a territory.

COMMON KESTREL

Sunrise 08.36 - Sunset 17.07

The low lands are covered in ice. The frost is steady and staying for a while. The landscape is changing, becomes harsher and hostile. But now the ponds and lakes are frozen it also becomes more accessible. By foot or by skate, a very popular outdoor activity.

Wind becomes stronger, snow arrives and the sharp flakes feel like needles. A common kestrel is concentrating on its prey. Food he desperately needs to survive. It is easy to approach the bird and observe it. The sharp snowflakes seem not to bother it in its quest. A tough bird.

On the flooded river forelands ice skaters follow the ice not aware of the struggle of life. But what an experience once again.

COLD RIVER

Sunrise 08.37 - Sunset 17.05

The river forelands are changed. A white coat of snow and ice has covered it up. The shallow waters are frozen. The ice is still thin and skating is only possible in a few places. The wind is blowing and it is cold. In the river forelands some bushes with wild teasel are still standing. Some goldfinch are anxiously searching for the last seeds, hidden in the sturdy reminisces of the flower. All at the edge of a cold river.

WILD DUCK

Sunrise 08.38 - Sunset 17.03

Wild ducks gather at the edge of an ice-hole of a pond. It seems the animals know exactly where they can find open water. Male and female side by side no quarrel no fighting just surviving wintertime.

THE FOX TRAIL

Sunrise 08.40, Sunset 17.03

The trail of a fox is clearly visible in the freshly fallen snow. The paws with sometimes a stroke of its tail in the snow. It follows more or less a track through the forest and sometimes it wanders of to a mouse hole, perhaps it even catched the mouse. The track disappears towards the heather witch is covered in snow. A thin fog is covering the distant tree line. A strange sound is coming closer I know it but I can’t place it. And then out of nothing, a V-shape flog of whooper-swan appeared out of the fog. The front swan looked just as surprised as me and turned right and within half a minute it was all over. No sounds, no swans just snow and mist. The silence of winter.