Drömling: Looking for the white-tailed eagle

Christina/ September 13, 2021/ The daily grind

At the Drömling there are supposed to be three white-tailed eagles Burkhard told me. I am interested in that right away. Sure there is no guarantee to see them but it’s worth a try. So we decide drive to Buchhorst on saturday and explore the biosphere reserve from there. Being equipped with a GPS and binoculars we go deerstalking. Next to buzzards, owls and frogs we make acquaintance with a bloodred dragonfly.

Everybody wants Disco
Buchhorst is the starting point of our tour. We park our car close to the local Discotheque, at least the nearby bus stop is called that way. I instantly have to think of the song “Nordisch by Nature” by Fettes Brot. The lyrics go like: “Weil alles nach Disco schreit.”

From the parking lot we take a narrow path passing through orchard meadows. Here we observe an owl. We follow the path until we reach the Ohre, walk alongside it for a while and cross the river on the left hand side. Straight on we walk on the Hopfenweg that lives up to its name. Real hops grows naturally here, I guess that must be a feast for every serious brewer.

Watch out for flying frogs
Far and wide there is not eagle to be seen. Instead we watch some buzzards in the sky looking for pickings. Turning left into a narrow path covered with high grass we are in for surprise. Dozens of frogs are jumping cheerfully in the grass towards a pond. Some of them are so small and green that they can be hardly seen. We can only something moving in the grass. Others, bigger example are swooping and looping in a gambado. We are fascinated but also a little bit worried not to step on the little creatures by accident. And that is when it happens: two frogs want to jump over my feet. One of them miscalculates and jumps directly against my shoe. It rebounds and off it goes. Hopefully it is well.

Texas-cattle
We follow an alley at the goit. Upon reaching the country road we walk to the right down the street and turn again right into the Drömling again. We arrive at the half-open pasture landscape at Röwitz. The place reminds us on African savanna, just the lions are lacking, holding their after-lunch sleep under a tree.

On the left side the different kinds of cattle at the Drömling prevail. For example the Drömling-cattle, transfering us to Texas by its looks. And also the breed “Blonde d’Aquitaine“ enchants us with its French allure and its well-formed horns. We are watching the animals curiously.

Swans gossip
We walk towards Belfort. On one of the waterways we spot a single swan. Well, I think to myself, don’t they normally show up in pairs? And actually a little bit further down we watch swan couples again and again. I really do hope that our white feathered friend is not being bullied.

From Belfort we walk on the pedestrian walk back to the parking lot. Suddenly a cyclist from behind talks to us. “Hello, you two wanderer”, he chants. We turn around and look into a smiling face. We tell the man that we are looking for the white-tailed eagles but unfortunately did not see one. He replies that it is not easy to spot them. He saw one this spring when a tractor killed a kid in the field by accident. We thank for the information.

Visiting the blood red dragonfly
We leave Buchhorst and drive to the Kaiserwinkel. There is a lookout which we climb up. Unfortunately there are no more animals to be seen. However on our way down we spot a blood red dragonfly sitting on a wood truss. I address to the insect and ask it to stay for one picture. And that is when the miracle happens. The dragonfly likes the fotoshooting that much that it does not move for a while. I take take pictures of it from different angles. What a finish at the Drömling.

The white sands of Uhry
At the end of a perfect day we drive to the white sands of Uhry. The place where the Grube Evers wins quartz sand an erratic bloc lies about 1.6 billion years old blue water meets white sand. With some fantasie you can experience a sunset like in the Caribbean.

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