On a Mission to Lithuania
My first mission for the greatest ever pan-European photographic project - The Wild Wonders of Europe (www.wild-wonders.com) is to the Baltic state of Lithuania, a country under Russian rule until 1990 and one of the richest for birdlife in eastern Europe. The country is teeming with birds. The low intensity farming and lack of pesticides means that the insect life can proliferate and where there are insects there are birds. My main subject for this mission is the white stork, the national bird of Lithuania which can be found throughout the country with around 16,000 breeding pairs, most of them it seems on telegraph poles! Not ideal for photography so I'm on the look out for one on an attractive building. Three days of searching and only pole-nesters but at least I find a couple of feeding storks in damp flower meadows so a few shots in the can.
31st May With a sunny forecast I spent last night (well 5 hours of it) in a very basic wooden shack near a low stork's nest and in situ for sunrise hoping to get the first feed of the day in good light. It was 0700 before the off-duty adult came in with food and also carrying some nest material (a plastic bag I think!). This stimulated the characteristic bill clapping display from both birds, with heads thrown back and mandibles clapping together excitedly. The food was regurgitated into the nest for the four one-week old chicks. I couldn't get a good view of this but after awhile the adult started to eat what was left over. From my shots I could make this out to be May bugs or cockchafers - they are flying around and on the ground everywhere you tread in Lithuania.
Back to the capital, Vilnius and off to check out a black tern colony on an area of disused peat cuttings, now colonised by phragmites reed and home to breeding bitterns, marsh harriers and both black and white-winged black terns. Its a maze of deep ditches and flooded pools and 30ºC - tough going for someone who has spent too much time in front of my computer recently ! I sink upto my waist in peaty water and my waders fill up but I manage to get out OK. Its so hot that my gear dries quickly and I set-up a hide near the colony. But its windy and the light is harsh so no luck. I manage an overhead flight shot of a black tern and return to base.
1st June Today I leave for the Curonian Spit, a slither of land formed by sand deposits that extends for 98 km on the edge of the Baltic Sea and separated from the mainland by The Curonian Lagoon. The dunes here support rare flora and a unique seaboard forest of pines and birches that stabalise the sand and limit erosion. This was not at that forefront of the minds of early settlers who felled many of the trees for fuel and heat causing extreme sand shifting. Several villages were completely swallowed up and now lie deep beneath the sand. A short ferry across the lagoon and I'm back on dry land and head down the peninsula to check out the main dunes. A beautiful late evening sky sets the dunes off well but there's no sunlight to really bring them to life.
2nd June Back on the dunes at 0430 and there is a little dawn colour in the sky. I try some silhouetted marram grasses and notice how they get some of their water in this arid habitat - droplets of dew. The sun is just breaking through now so I get to serious work on the sand dunes, their rippled nature highlighted by the low light. I shoot various compositions mostly wide-angle getting low to the ground to accentuate the light and shadows. By 0700 the light is getting too harsh and the shot has gone. I wander back stopping to photograph a clump of bright yellow flowers (must look up the species) trying to place them in this barren landscape. I return again in the evening but the light is teasing me. Great clouds and splashes of light but not coming together as I want and I leave frustrated.
3rd June Up and out again at 0430 but its raining lightly and no chance of a clearance. Time to catch up on some sleep! I crawl out of my pit several hours later but its still raining and getting very windy. Looking bleak out there and about 20ºC cooler than a few days ago. Editing and blogging for the day! 2000 and the sun's broke through - panic stations - I wasn't ready for this. Fortunately the best dunes are only a 5 minute drive away and by 2020 I'm back in position hoping for more breaks in this heavy cloud cover. I sit it out and get a few brief moments of light and some fresh air at least.
4th June Sky looks promising this morning so the dunes beckon once more. I try a different area looking for a new angle. As always the light is crucial for a successful shot and the few moments around sunrise provide the best light of all. A thin veil of cloud darkens the eastern horizon but its clear above. No dawn light unfortunately but 20 minutes after daybreak the sun splinters across the rippled sand and provides me with the ingredients I've been craving. Dark cumulus clouds skidding across the sky complete an ever-changing scene and I feel at last I have a shot worthy of the place. Time to move on.
The Nemunas Delta lies a few kilometres across the Curonian lagoon and comprises a flat coastal plain of wet meadows, extensive reed beds and lily-covered dykes, a perfect place of birds. I head for the small rural village of Rusnes which lies at the centre of a small island at the heart of the National Park. As I reach the first few houses I can already see two white stork nests and nearby several birds are foraging around a small area of communal farmland oblivious to passers-by. This looks like stork central and a good place to base myself for the last couple of days of my mission. Through a comical version of 'charades' (sign language) I find a great hostel and the best bed all week! 1900 and time to start work again.
Today's weather has been unexpectantly good and this evening promises much. I head out of the village searching for other stork nests. There must be one on a building somewhere. In the next hamlet of Pavalnes there are yet more pole-nesters and then finally one on a barn! - but hopes are dashed, I can see grass growing from it so no storks at home. Then finally the holy grail - an active stork's nest on the corner of a barn. It's not the picturesque village church that the WWE team were hoping for but it's the best I've seen in my week here. I set up and wait for the off-duty bird to return with food. I don't have long to wait - I can see it approaching. I opt for a wide shot to show the end of the barn and compose the shot. Enter stork stage left - click, click, click, click, click - got it!! Happy with these first results I head back to Rusne to focus on the chimney-nest I saw earlier. This must be a new nest site and possibly a younger pair as they have no chicks or eggs. The site is on an old house that has partially burnt down next to the extended vegetable plot. Not pretty but this is the stork's habitat and they seem to be thriving here. A smell of rotting meat provides a clue to the stork's preference for this place and several birds soon descend to forage around some wooden sheds that must harbour livestock - chickens perhaps?
The chimney pair are regularly engaging in bill clapping behaviour and with other storks flying in and out their is much to photograph in the golden evening light. It is far from warm as the biting westerly continues to blow hard. More behaviour ensues with the male mounting the female but no copulation takes place but great action shots nonetheless! This site is perfect for the evening light and catches the very last embers of the setting sun. Magical. But there are still shots to be had I feel and I return to several of the nest sites to try for some silhouettes. Struggling to get what I want I begin to head back but then I see the shot. A pair of storks on the nest with an almost full moon behind. Its well past sunrise and the light is fading fast. I leap from the car grab the 500mm and line up the shot - no time for the tripod - I hit a series of shots just before both birds leave the nest. Back at base I quickly download several CF cards to check the evening's images. Some good stuff I think. I go to bed happy at 0130 - it's been a long day but the best so far.
5th June Another fine morning provides further opportunities for Rusne's storks with a group of around 15 feeding in one of the vegetable plots in the village. By 0700 dark clouds blanket the sky and rain threatens. I'm woken later in the morning by tumultuous rain lashing down, the clouds so dark it seems like night. But I awake again at midday with sun streaming in the window - was that all just a dream. With early starts, midday sleep and late evenings it's like having two days rolled into one! I'm on the look out for roe deer now and I'm shown some suitable habitat of open meadows that stretches for mile after mile. They should be out feeding by the evening but in this long grass its going to tough to spot them. After a fruitless drive along a 10 mile gravel track and turn for home but as is so typical I spot a buck close to the road in the fading light. He seems nervous but its worth a try. I fire off a few frames but he quickly takes flight and melts into the meadow.
6th June I return at dawn on a beautiful still morning - the first for days - with a low mist hanging over the wet meadows. Bird song fills the air - grasshopper warblers are reeling, corncrakes are calling, thrush nightingales provide a surround sound of the most amazing liquid song an cuckoos are everywhere their metronomic call very much the soundtrack of a Lithuanian spring. And right on cue the roe buck together with a doe. But they move away as soon as I approach stopping to turn back to check me out from a safe distance, typical behaviour. The roe is small in the frame but the mist and soft light adds atmosphere to this tranquil scene. Is not a classic but on a personal level encapsulates the quiet mood of the morning. If only I could have captured that cachophony of bird music.
The afternoon light is still harsh as I head out for the barn nesting storks but I'm anxious to get another series o shots of the off-duty bird returning with food for the chicks. the next 2 hours there are 4 nest visits each time the incoming bird regurgitating food for the four hungry chicks. They seems to have an insatiable appetite as each one in turn pushes its bill inside that of its parent to receive it's share of the fast food. By 7pm the light is getting awkward here and I move on to the chimney nesters. On arrival they are quietly resting, but raise themselves for a bout of bill clapping every half hour and then fly off only to return a few minutes later with fresh nest material. Their home making activities continue for over an hour so plenty of chances to nail some good flight shots in gorgeous evening light. With this shot in the bag I try for some different and switch position 180º so I'm shooting towards the setting sun. I'm now standing in the village's main street on a Saturday night and attracting plenty of strange looks and hoots from passing cars. Ghetto blasters pump out a heavy bass and an impromptu party starts up. The storks are not deterred by the raucous activities although I must admit to being a little out of place! A wonderful sunset draws a close to my Lithuanian mission and provides a fitting finale to my time in the stork capital of Europe.
