Germany: Ringing Spotted Flycatchers...

During my time in Germany I often went ringing with my German friends, on this one occasion I was helping to ring spotted flycatchers at the Kur Park near Lippstadt.

I was left on my own, while my friends went to check on some of the many nest boxes we had placed around the park. While I was ringing a flycatcher, this dear old German woman came up to me waving her umbrella and shouting at me to stop being cruel to the birds.

With my limited German, I tried in to explain what it was that I was doing.

Suddenly she looked at me and said your not German. I said no I am British and I am stationed here in Lippstadt. Her whole demeanour changed, she smiled at me and said, "I think it is really wonderful that foreign people come here to ring our German birds"...

Enough said I think.

Photo: Colour ringed spotted flycatcher, we used colour rings so that we could identify the bird without re-trapping it and putting it under more stress than necessary.

Ivory-billed Woodpecker does it still exist?

What a great picture I just had to put this in as woodpeckers are my favourite birds.

Picture by: Tomasz Cofta

Naure and Youth at Risk ~ Part Three

I sometimes find that the adults are the problem, no right no wrong, simply because they come with their conditions attached and they experience the kids in a different way for example. This is Johnny watch him he will play you up all day, he is completely out of control and unmanageable.


In my experience when you are out in nature with the kids the reverse is true, once you get them over the shock and horror of being in the woods with all the creepy crawlies etc. One day we had a group of boys one of which had been pointed out to us as being the one to watch. How right the teacher was but not for the reasons he thought.


Charlie was his name and we were doing Bow Drill with them during the briefing which my partner was giving Charlie pipes up, "How are we going to get fire in the rain"? My partner replied you are going to show us "But I do not know how to do this" Our response was that we are going to help them to remember how to do it, "What he said, I have never done it before" don't worry all will become clear was our reply.


Well suffice to say Charlie was the only one to get fire that day and in the rain as well, what an achievement, her was one happy boy. The teacher came up to us at the end of the day and said "I am sorry about Charlie, I won't bring him back again, he is already exclude from school except for Thursday mornings".


As one both I and my partner turned to face the teacher and in one voice we said Charlie is the very one we want back, can you not see what he has achieved today...

Nature and Youth at Risk ~ Part Two

Was it because he was here against his will, was it because he believed no one would give him the time because he could not read or write or was it because he was always told he was unless and was a no good for nothing? Whatever it was he would not get involved, refusing to take part in everything.

The day started at 09:00 and ended at 16:00, time was running out and I was not about to give up on him, so I sent the group off with my partner to play some nature awareness games while I stayed with him and a member of staff.Sitting on the log, he was silent as I tried to encourage him to try his hand at the Bow Drill, I reminded him that no one was around to see him, after sometime he agreed to make an effort and he half heartily tried to bow from the bench he was on. I suggested it would be better if he tried it on the ground, during his attempts at bowing I kept saying to him that it was OK to ask for help.

He did not respond to this, in the end I asked him if he would like me to help him, if he would like me to show him how you can bow in tandem, he agreed and so I got down on the ground with him. We bowed long and hard, the air was damp but we kept going, time was running out for us, the end of the day had come. However we were so close to getting a coal, I extended the time a bit. Offering further encouragement while the rest of the group watched we started to get smoke, boy did we get smoke lots of it. Unfortunately we did not get fire and the day had come to an end and the kids had to go. I shook his hand and gave him lots of positive reinforcement by summarising what he had achieved and how close he was to getting fire the way our ancestors did and how there were very, very few people in the world could what he had just done.

Some days later we received feedback from the organisers, at the end of their two week course with the kids (who were all excluded from school), the only feedback he gave them about the course was a wonderful drawing he did of himself doing the Bow Drill, my partner, myself and Merlin my Eagle Owl and of course there was a fire with plenty of flames coming from it.

I found this very interesting and encouraging in that while we did not get fire on the day, a part of him believes he can do it and that for me bolds well for his future. I can only trust that he has found his way safely in life and that the power of the bow drill and the fire will give him the encouragement he needs in times of trouble.