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Tour leader Rob Murray describes some of the highlights of our ‘Poland in Spring’ tour which returned Saturday 14th May – encounters with 3 huge male Bison, both White-backed and Three-toed Woodpeckers, and a Pygmy Owl were personal favourites
Pygmy Owl by Paul Marshall
Pygmy Owl
A real highlight for me was seeing Pygmy Owl. We tried with our local guide, Arek, but had no success, so I went back out later the same evening with the group to try again. This time we were in luck – after a short time a Pygmy Owl came out on a branch and started calling and waving its tail up and down like a wren. It looked down at us and appeared to be ‘glaring’ – its eyes widened as it looked at us. People were astounded at just how small it was!
Aquatic Warbler
We also had very good views of Aquatic Warbler – this is a very difficult species to see, but we managed to find one straight away. We listened to it singing for a long time and also saw the ‘crown’.
White-backed, Three-toed & Black Woodpeckers
White-backed Woodpecker is an absolute delight – it’s rare, so most people were hoping to see that and Three-toed Woodpecker on the trip. We were taken to a nest-hole and saw the young fighting to get their heads out – we could make out the different patterns on their heads when the adults came to feed them. We were positioned parallel to the flight path, so the adults ignored us completely and we had fantastic views!
We also watched a Three-toed Woodpecker excavating its nest-hole. We had excellent views of it flicking wood chippings out as it made the hole!
On another occasion we were in a stand of spruce trees, which are known to be good habitat for Black Woodpecker. We stood still and a Black Woodpecker flew right past the hole we’d been watching to the tree where we were standing – it landed right above our heads! We had breathtaking views as it flew to us!
Corncrakes
One of our guides put a rucksack with a recording of Corncrake out on a patch of marshland which we knew was inhabited by Corncrakes. As soon as the local Corncrakes heard the recording one came up and walked around the rucksack, calling all the time. We didn’t leave the recording playing for long – just enough time for everyone to get superb views right down the throat of the calling bird!
Bison
We were looking for woodpeckers when a girl drove past us in a car. She reversed and came back to talk to us and told us she’d seen three Bison further down by the forest edge. As soon as she told us this news, people started to run … some of the group surprised themselves at just how fast they could run still, when properly motivated!
There were three huge bull Bison munching away at the edge of the forest – we got great views of their horns and faces; it was really spectacular. Then they disappeared into the forest and were gone – we’d had perhaps a half-hour window of opportunity to see them there in full view, and we were so lucky!
Elk:
A lot of the clients on the tour had never encountered Elk, and seeing their bizarre shapes lumbering out onto the marshes was an extraordinary sight. This is an animal that looks as if it’s been designed by Lewis Carroll – like one of the creatures in Alice in Wonderland.
We also had a good sighting of Otter – we spotted a dark elongated shape scrambling out onto a bank, then we watched it go into its holt.
Hotels & food …
How many hotels can you stay in where you are able to lie back in bed and listen to booming Bitterns, and the whiplash call of Spotted Crake? That’s one of the joys of where we stay at Biebrza, and at our other hotel we walked out and saw Wrynecks on the roof. Fantastic!
To find out more about our 'Poland in Spring' holiday, click here.