Author Archives: admin

Black and white and full of nuts

Posted on November 27, 2016 by admin

All the best animals, of course, are black and white: Bratislavan winters offer another splendid candidate: the magpie. Apart from the very occasional tit, these are the only birds to have noticed that our windowsill produces peanuts each morning; something … Continue reading →

Posted in Antarctica, Nature, Pets, Slovakia | 1 Comment

Four Non Birds

Posted on November 1, 2016 by admin

Although the birds are the most conspicuous wildlife, I’m just as happy to find members of other classes. Recently I’ve met: a very elegant arachnid, who played dead when I started poking around nearby; a red squirrel looking down on … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Slovakia | 1 Comment

Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31, 2016 by admin
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Fisher Kings

Posted on September 16, 2016 by admin

Learning vocabulary on the riverbank this morning, I was rudely interrupted by: The osprey is Kršiak rybár in Slovak: rybár being a fisher. This one was following the Morava river as part of his journey from some Nordic country down … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Slovakia | 1 Comment

Homer, Language, and the Colleen Bawn

Posted on September 13, 2016 by admin

Recently, the third and concluding volume of Gladstone’s Homer and the Homeric Age finally made it to Project Gutenberg. The scanned versions available online all failed to include a map which was inserted at the end of the volume, showing … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | 1 Comment

Beauty and the Beast

Posted on September 2, 2016 by admin

One river, two countries, and some contrasting wildlife this week. In Slovakia, this little fellow lives by the Danube: Upstream, in Austria’s Donau-Auen national park, we met: In Slovak, wild boar is “diviak”, which seems to mean literally “wild thing”. … Continue reading →

Posted in Austria, Nature, Slovakia | 1 Comment

Lovebirds

Posted on August 29, 2016 by admin

After our superstorks finished their breeding so early, we didn’t know whether they’d start their migration early, or hang around to enjoy the Slovak summer a bit more. Fortunately they chose the latter. They’re much harder to find these days, … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Slovakia | Comments Off on Lovebirds

Eyes

Posted on August 29, 2016 by admin

Eyes which have caught mine recently; starting with some Austrian insects: Storks’ naturally high position is extremely suitable for glaring: Oxford geese showed an interesting variety of colours: While one wouldn’t want to upset the Headington kite:

Posted in Austria, Nature, Oxford, Slovakia | 3 Comments

Beginning of the end

Posted on July 27, 2016 by admin

Last weekend we made our usual stork visit, expecting to find that another one or two of the chicks had started flying. It was a bit of a shock to come across this: After a wander round, we were about … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Slovakia | 1 Comment

Reasons to be cheerful, part 3: storks

Posted on July 16, 2016 by admin

Our local storks, having started their breeding early, are now at a pretty advanced stage. The four chicks are almost fully grown, despite a diet which seems to have been heavy on vegetation rather than juicy frog and rodent. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Slovakia | 1 Comment