'Das endlose Trauerspiel'

One thing you get to learn when living abroad is that your host's national culture is likely to be very different from yours.  And so it is for me with Germany - even though my wife is German.  I suppose that there are a few superficial similarities, but we are all prisoners of our countries' pasts and actually there are very few shared cultural reference points that properly bind us together either as people or communities.  We are, whether we like it or not, rather different.



A 1 Euro coin

When reading German newspapers I am often struck by how different the German establishment's (for want of a better expression) view is on a whole range of issues compared with the prevailing opinion or consensus in the UK.  One issue that certainly does bind us together is the European Union (EU) and the Euro, even though the UK is not a member.  The latter is constantly in the news at the moment thanks to the never ending Greek financial crisis.

Strong stuff - 'Frau Merkel, we also want a referendum!  Take the Greeks out of the Euro!'

German foreign policy since the second world war has been to embed itself within first the EEC and then the EU.  Over time and more by default than by design, Germany has assumed an increasingly important leadership role in the EU mainly because of the Euro crisis and its position as the dominant economic and fiscal power.  Other crises, for example those involving Russia, have also favoured German involvement because of the significant economic and trade links between the two countries.  The German political elite remain wedded to the EU and its future - especially the Euro.  This relationship is a given, a constant, a matter of faith; it is not the pragmatic contractual arrangement envisaged by the British. 



The Bundestag in Berlin.

But are things changing?  Certainly people here are alive to the Euro crisis and many have now assumed a more questioning and sceptical stance.  I don't think most people realize how well Germany has done in the Euro and wrongly assume that their economic success is entirely attributable to the country's manufacturing brilliance.  What I think really upsets people here is the thought of handing over more money to indebted states in southern Europe, especially when they refuse to take Auntie Angela's medicine.  I wonder now whether the Germans will be prepared to hand over the political and sovereign power necessary to make the Euro work.  The acquiescent acceptance, upon which many German (and other) politician's relied to advance the cause of Europe, is I sense draining away.

So where does this leave us - or more pertinently the Germans?  Whilst Germany is certainly wealthy, there is a lot of poverty here.  The legacy of amalgamating unemployment and welfare benefits in 2005 under Hartz IV, is over 7 million people on “mini-jobs”, part-time work that is tax-free up to €450.  This flatters the jobless rate, but in the process Germany has become a split society, more unequal than at any time in its modern history. Remarkably, a fifth of German children are raised in poverty.  So many Germans quite understandably don't think that they can afford to subsidise others - and they probably have a point.  But, you make your bed and you lie in it.  If everything is sacrificed on the exigencies of a indistinct and vapid European dream, without asking the electorate first, then this is where you may end up.  We are all very different - I don't understand how the Germans could have let themselves get here, but then I don't understand them and they don't understand me.

Wiedehopfe - Oranienbaum Heide

Hoopoes, like Bee-eaters, are a bird most bird watchers will go the extra mile to see.  I believe that they also the most recognizable scarce bird seen by the general public out walking their dog in the spring.  With their pharaoh's crest, de-curved beak, pink body and striking black and white striped wings, they are immediately recognizable both by the lay-man as something special and by the hard-core birder as something worth running to 'bag'.


Oranienbaum Heide

Hoopoes are scarce breeders in Germany but have increased in numbers over the past decade benefiting from the effects of warming temperatures and, especially in my part of the world, the conversion of former military training areas into nature reserves.  The Oranienbaumer Heide, near Dessau, is a case in point.  Quite apart from having such an attractive name, it is a large area (2,683 hectares) of unimproved dry grazing land intermixed with forest in various states of development.  The Heide provides a home for a wide variety of heathland birds including Nightjars, Woodlarks, Great Grey Shrikes, Wrynecks (though increasingly scarce) and Hoopoes.   


Oranienbaumer Heide

Orainenbaumer Heide - note the cattle

Approximately 100 pairs of Hoopoe breed in Sachsen-Anhalt and their numbers are increasing significantly thanks to the use of nest boxes.  In the past 2 or 3 years the numbers of breeding Hoopes in Sachsen-Anhalt has nearly doubled and on one heath alone there are now nearly 60 currently held territories. Numbers are also doing really well on the heaths in Brandenburg.  I have visited several Heides over the course of the last couple of years, usually on the recommendation of the good Vogel Beobachten in Ostdeutschland guide, and have often commented on how over-grown many of them have become when compared with the photographs in the book.  Consequently many species, especially Tawny Pipits, seem to have moved out.  The Oranienbaumer Heide, however, seems to be well-managed and native cattle and horse breeds, as well as large scale tree felling, are used to maintain the right mix of habitat.


Hoopoe home?  An armour plated nest box circa 3m from the ground fixed in a young oak tree  - Orainenbaumer Heide

Juvenile Red-backed Shrike - Orainenbaumer Heide

I have visited the Oranienbaum Heide once before in the hope of seeing Hoopoes but to no avail.  Admittedly the visit was made at short notice and without any research and my colleagues and I had to make do with wonderful views of Great Grey and Red Shrikes, Golden Oriels and an amazing array of butterflies.  The weather during today's visit was extremely hot - 30⁰ centigrade - and there was very little activity to observe.  It was one of those days where you had to work really hard to see anything other than the ubiquitous Red-backed Shrikes and their families, some Stonechats and a couple of Woodlarks, which of course are lovely. 

Hoopoe - Orainenbaumer Heide

Hoopoe - Orainenbaumer Heide

Mercifully, however, and just as I was about to give up, my attention was caught by the unmistakeable view of a Hoopoe flying into a small tree.  Thank goodness!  The bird was quite tame and allowed me to creep close enough to take some pictures.  Whilst I was waiting for it to fly from the tree into the sunlight, my attention was then attracted to some activity in the sky - namely a spanking male Goshawk flying high seemingly hawking some Swifts.  I am usually quite good with Goshawks but male birds can present identification problems with their slightly smaller and less physical female cousins.  However, the combination of bulging secondary wing feathers a more prominent head, a thick set tail and slightly slower wing beats, allowed me to identify this bird as a Goshawk.  Goshawks are widely distributed throughout Germany and can be seen, usually by chance, just about anywhere, though usually in forest habitats.
 

Male Goshawk with Swifts - Orainenbaumer Heide



Male Goshawk with Swifts - Orainenbaumer Heide

Male Goshawk - Orainenbaumer Heide

When, after all this aerial excitement was over, I returned my attention to my Hoopoe, it had gone!  Flown loopingly across the vast heath to a tree or shrub unknown.  There is no list of sightings to report - it wasn't that sort of outing and actually I saw remarkably little!  It was very hot and hard work, but I got my bird - a first for me in Germany.