Unfortunately not much birding was done in December.. a mixture of mitigating factors … Weather, family commitments and basically not really a lot to look at .. However, things looked up when I went on a city break to Berlin for the Christmas Market from 9-13th December!!
Did all the usual things like Check point Charlie and the Brandenburg Gate and the Chancellory Building. Amazing architecture and the sense of History – brilliant to experience!! What made it better was just down the road from our hotel – well about a mile was the famous Tiergarten Park!!
The park is famous for its Goshawks and provides Berliners with beautiful areas to use for recreation such as cycling and walking. Would I get a chance for Goshawk ?? Well I certainly did. With no exaggeration a massive female Goshawk exploded out of a tree not 20yds away upon arrival… alarmed by children playing near by!! That was the only one I saw !! However, I manage to photograph Short-toed Treecreeper a new ‘photo’ bird for me!!
I only had about an hour in the park …but it seemed like an awesome place and so easy to get to!! Another highlight of the trip was watching two peregrines fly repeatedly over one of the Christmas markets, eventually they went to roost on a nearby building.
Next time it would be good to spend a bit more time in the Tiergarten and see if I could photograph one of its famous Goshawks.
