LAND 24 Warm, but not too warm, and next to no wind. Perfect conditions for a LAND trip. I walked into the woods along a well-trodden path. A startled roe deer scream-barked in alarm as I approached.
I was in the bison enclosure again. After my daughter dropped me off, I watched as she paused the car to let a bison cross the road in front of her. It was to be the first and last bison I saw all day, but their presence was both seen and felt. Many tree trunks bore scars where bison had scraped off their bark, and the forest itself was being trimmed and shaped by their activities. Though unseen, the forest and the paths buzzed with the possibility of their being, and my eyes constantly scanned every shadow and shape in between the trees.
In other areas of the forest, trees had been purposefully damaged or felled by the forestry commission to encourage biodiversity, and this transition from a commercially viable plantation to a recreative/biodiverse forest was to be a theme of the day. My route took me through some of Bornholm’s most diverse forests and wetlands – an area that will soon be given the elevated status of a National Park.
I left the enclosure and continued my route through the forest, sometimes walking along narrow roads and tracks, sometimes following neglected pathways – wading through waist-high grass and ducking under the boughs of fallen trees. For hours and hours, I was completely and utterly alone, bathed in dappled sunlight and surrounded by bird song and the heady aroma of hot pine needles and elderflower blossom. Heavenly indeed.
I stopped for a while by ‘Karl Hansens Bøg’ a wonderfully gnarled and twisted hornbeam tree well known to Bornholm’s walkers and cyclists.
I continued to Hagemyr, a recently restored wetland area. In less than 10 years this area has been transformed and is now home to breeding pairs of red-necked grebe, little grebe, common crane, and red-backed shrike – amongst others. A mute swan preened itself in the shallows close to the reed beds.
Nearby, a pair of red-backed shrike flitted back and forth feeding their recently fledged young. They were very obliging and completely disregarded my presence.
I had to drag myself away from such perfect birds and compelling models, but time was getting on. I stopped a couple of times to paint, hypnotised by the dappled sunlight on the leaves, and the complex profusion of life at the edge of a newly dug pond, but I was tired and dehydrated now, and the mosquitos were relentless.
Refreshed by a well-situated water tap, I marched on. Bastemose was today’s destination, one of Bornholm’s best birding sites and a place dear to my heart. I know this wetland area very well and have so many memories entangled along its paths and I felt very much on home ground. Just three or four weeks previously I had watched red-footed falcons and hobbies swooping after dragonflies but today, alas, all was quiet.
However, with a little patience and a little time, things will aways start to happen. Suddenly a hobby shot out of the woods – it was chasing a swallow and for a second or two it followed every twist and turn of its quarry, before aborting the attack and gliding nonchalantly off. Incredible.
Three hobbies were now hunting over the marsh – starting high, then pulling back their wing tips and swooping down at great speed, low over the water, then sailing up again into a great lazy arc, sometimes with a dragonfly in their clutches. At one point, one of the hobbies rested in the top of a pine tree, silhouetted against the light.
Sunset hobby I, Bastemose
Later, as the sun was setting the hobby rested in another tree on the opposite side of the marsh – this time bathed in the golden light of the evening. It had been an unforgettable day full of light and life.
LAND 24
WEATHER REPORT – Sunny periods most of the day. Temperature 14 – 19 degrees. Wind 1 – 4 m/s, changeable. Hours of precipitation: 0 hours. Hours of sunshine: 11 hours.
STOPS with the BIVVY – 0
KILOMETRES WALKED – 15.71 km
DAY LASTED – 17h and 20 m
PEOPLE TALKED TO – 0
BIRDS SEEN and HEARD – 45 species: 4 new (little grebe, hobby, reed warbler, spotted flycatcher) running total = 117 species
LESSONS LEARNED – I tried a new rucksack today, so learned lots about how to use it
IN MY HEAD – I thought about how the forest is constantly growing, plants fighting for dominance and constantly eradicating our ephemeral attempts to create order and control.
I thought about biodiversity and the 17 bison that pull in over 100,000 tourists to the forest every year – and the 600,000 Bornholmian pigs hidden in giant sheds on the island.
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