November 2015 - Trekking in Morocco
In November I went for a hiking trip to Morocco. It was a fantastic trek organized by a little moroccan-swiss Company. I didn't know anybody from the people that would join the trek and it turned out into a wonderful harmonic and fun group. Thanks a lot guys!
The trek was split in two sections. The first half took part in the Antiatlas, which is the most southern of the three Mountainranges in Morocco. Our luggage was transported with mules, yet we carried our daypacks with camera and water. The Antiatlas is a wild and dry mountainrange, with lots of smelling wild herbes and amazing rockformations.
After 4 days we changed from mules to camels and hiked through the northern edge of the Sahara. The mixture of gorges and sanddunes was amazing. But the huge flat plateaus that we had to cross, had a potential to get boring after a few hours. On the last day, we walked into a baby sandstorm. Nothing serious according to our guide. But I thought it wasn't that pleasant and I certainly wouldn't like to experience a fully grown sandstorm. Still a very cool experience.
The first nights in the Antiatlas were rather cold and we had to sleep in tents. But once it was getting warmer, we were able to sleep under the desertsky. What a great way to fall asleep - being tugged into your cosy sleepingbag and counting shooting stars in that amazing desertsky until you snooze away.
I have put up a landscape and a travel portfolio. Enjoy browsing through the pics.
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August 2015 - An unexpected surprise
Two weeks ago, I went with my sister for a walk in our local mountains. On a nice spot above a little Alp, I saw some Water Pipits, Ring Ouzel and some Common Linnets. On a nice afternoon, I decided to walk up there and try my luck. But the very strenuous hike wasnt really worth it - I thought. It was a really hot day and the birds didn't wanted to performe at all. So I ended up having a little nep in the sun, which wasn't that bad either.
On my walk back, I noticed a sharp winged brown reddish bird that took of in front of me and landed a few meters away - just far enough that I couldn't really see what it was. Only when I looked through my fiewfinder, I saw a juvenile Common Cuckoo. The bird was not shy at all, jumped down from his rocky perch, grabed a caterpillar and jumped onto another perch. I was able to photograph him for quite a while before he had enough of me and took off and disappeared.
Here is my favorite shot of the whole session.
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June 2015 – Aesculapian Snake
Shortly after my cold Norway-Experience, I went to see my friends Andi and Petra in Biel. In general, the weather looked really bad for that weekend in Switzerland. But along Lake Biel, it should be alight with a little luck! And so it was, on Saturday Andi and me went out to look for snakes and found a beautiful female Aesculapian Snake.
I’m shure, most of you have seen a Aesculapian Snake – maybe not out in the bush. The Sign on Pharmacies often shows the Aesculapian Staff. Asclepius was a god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology and was one of Apollo’s sons. He represented the healing aspect of the medical arts. Asclepius transformed himself once into a snake, to heal Rome from a fatal disease. The rod of Asclepius, a snake-entwined staff, remains a symbol of medicine today.
Next day, Andi was leading a field trip and took me along. The weather in central Switzerland was cold and rainy. And from the beautiful Alp where we stayed, we could also see some fresh snow on the mountain tops. Lucky me, once more!! ;o)
As the next day started with lots of rain and the occasional snow in between, we sat in the Restaurant for quite some time and drank Coffee and hot Chocolate. We tried to keep the spirits high, but the little field trip we did in the rain wasn’t much of a success. So Andi finished the field trip and went with the participants back towards Bern. I stayed a little longer and managed to find an Alpine Salamander and a Northern Wheatear, that I was able to take a couple of shots.
At the end of the day/trip, I still really enjoyed it and it was good to catch up with my Friends Andi and Petra again. Thanks a lot for those weekends. I really appreciate going to different parts of Switzerland and exploring its reptile beauty and diversity.
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June 2015 – Blue Throat instead of Great Snipe
It has been a while since my last post, but that doesn’t mean, that I wasn’t out and about with my camera.
Mid-June 2015 my friend Andy Trowbridge and me thought, that we could try and photograph the courtship display of the Great Snipe. Andy did quite a bit of research and decided, that around Trondheim, we would have the best chances. So, I flew up to Trondheim, where Andy met me with his Campervan. But the weather forecast was horrible for the coming week, to say the least. There was no point in that kind of weather to go and look for the Great Snipe. So we decided to drive south to Oppdal/Dovre Area and try our luck there. As the descriptions we had for the leks, weren’t as good as in the Trondheim Area and the weather still wasn’t that great, we gave up looking for them after two nights.
So we concentrated on little passerines that were around and spent some time with a good sized and relaxed Muskox Bull, that we saw from the road up on the hillside in Dovrefjell Nationalpark. Even we weren’t able to photograph what we had in plan, it still was a great and fun short vacations in Norway with my Mate Andy. Thanks for the research, planning, driving and putting up with my whinging about the cold weather ;o) – tough it was snowing!
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May 2015 - Yellow-bellied Toad
A friend of mine took me to a gravel quarry close to the German border. Parts of it are protected and it provides shelter and nesting for many different amphibians, insects and birds. One of my target amphibians was the yellow-bellied toad and with the help of Stefan, we have found some. It is a unique creature and I was amazed, how small they are. The average toad measures about 4 cm and they have quite a striking yellow belly – hence the very obvious name! But its most unusual and striking feature is their heart shaped pupil! Very cool indeed… check out the pics!
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May 2015 – Black Grouse
A hunter that I know quite a few years now has told me about a lek for black grouse. The black grouse is a very charismatic bird and one of my favorites. In springtime, the males compete for the females – or greyhens – by displaying on an open grassy arena called a lek, which turns sometimes into a battlefield aswell, as the males end up fighting sometimes.
I spent a few nights in my hide on that lek and was woken up by the bubbling and sneezing sounds of the blackcocks. The lek holds about a dozen males. Of course you can’t compare it with the high numbers in Scandinavia. I have been told, that a lek in Switzerland with a dozen blackcocks is a pretty good one. Anyways, I love this kind of “nights out” and even better, if I come home with something nice on the card.
Enjoy the black grouse pics.
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March 2015 – Port Sudan
Like last year, I decided to travel to Sudan and join a Liveaboard Diving Trip in the Red Sea. The diving was fantastic again and the schooling Hammerhead sharks were out of this world again. I think they performed even better than last year. Check out some of the pics in my Into the Blue Gallery. The pictures are shot with a Nikon P7000 and the files lack the digital performance of my camera I use on land.
On the last day, we went again to the market and I really enjoyed myself again. I love wandering through the market, alltough without Luca our diveguide, I would have gone completely lost. The market is a mixture of different smells, sights and atmospheres and the people can be very friendly or don’t notice you at all. Sounds like anywhere in the world!
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March 2015 – Rock ptarmigan
Mid March I was able to go along two friends to a relatively easy to reach destination to see and hopefully photograph Rock ptarmigan in their white winterplumage. The evening didn’t provide any success at all. We discovered a lot of tracks and scat, but no birds at all – not even a call. Knowing that the birds dig themselves into the snow for the night, we didn’t had a lot of hope for the first light next morning. Allthough we decided to get up early, the little hope we had for the birds made us a bit slower. While brushing my teeth, I opend the window and saw a white Rock ptarmigan sitting in front of the window. Both of us were surprised by the other. I told my friends and all of a sudden it went very quick and we stood outside and ready!
Shortly after we found about 5 rock ptarmigan. We slowly got closer, but the as the courtshipdisplay wasn’t in full swing yet, the birds didn’t let us come as close as we wanted to.
Anyway, we managed to get a few reasonable pics – hope you like them. Thanks a lot to my guides for showing me the place and for the great company!
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March 2015 - Winterducks
A few weeks ago, I spent an afternoon at a little lake up in the mointains. As it was really cold and the lake was frozen solid, apart from a little area where a little creek flows into the lake. All the ducks where around that non frozen area and after a while they accepted me, as I was lying on the ice and waited for them. Once the sun was gettin lower, the light turned nice and some of the ducks stroke some nice poses.
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November/December 2014 - Tasmania
Hi there….
It took me a while to work through all my images from Tasmania. No wonder, I took quite a few photos, because it really is a beautiful, stunning and incredible place – though a bit far away from my parts of the world. Non the less, I had a great time and my friends Kirsty, Ben and Inara took very well care of me, showing me their Island, explaining me some of their unic wildlife and also trying me to boil in the hot-tub! Thank you very much for having me. I had a great time and can’t wait to see you again.
The island itself is just over 90’000 km², is very divers in terms of landscape and is therefore bound with different and unic vegetations, wild- and birdlife. It has 12 endemic birdspecies and some of the mammals I thought were easier to see on Tasmania than on mainland Australia. I have seen several Echidnas, Wombats and even Quol and Platypus.
But time flies when you are having fun and even 6 weeks on an island the size of Tasmania is way too short – leaving me with parts unseen and plans to go back in the future.
I have made this blog here with some of the pictures and a showcase of Tasmania. Also check the wildlife, bird and landscape galleries, as I have added some pictures there aswell.
Enjoy zooming through the pictures!