BREXIT!

Come the three corners of the world in arms,
And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue,
If England to itself do rest but true.

Shakespeare King John, 1595

So, the hardly believable has come to pass.  I watched the TV News through the small hours on Friday morning as the BREXIT Referendum results came in.  Like most people I expected Remain to win by a margin of between 5 and 10%.  The final result, which had become increasingly obvious as the hours went by, came as a complete shock.  And I voted to Leave.  Like most people I spent Friday in a state of numb shock wondering what I and we had done.  But, as time has passed, and despite the scorn and criticism heaped on me by Britons and Germans alike, I am increasingly confident that the country has made the right call.

A difficult binary choice to be made.

Living in Germany I am often asked to comment on or explain British attitudes to current issues and affairs.  One of my stock answers about the EU has been to explain that the British attitude to it has always been essentially contractual, whereas for the Germans and especially the Germans, it is an emotional relationship developed as part of their post-war foreign and domestic policy construct.  Most Germans reacted to BREXIT with a mixture of incredulity, extreme sadness and anger.  I have seen some people close to tears.  Its like when a lover unexpectedly announces the end of a relationship held dear by the other half - emotions are running high.  My German wife is extremely upset.

Churchill statue, Parliament Square

But as I said earlier, I think that the British decision is the right one.  It carries significant risk internally and externally and needs to be managed extremely carefully by London and Brussels.  But I am clear that the EU has, through its intransigence and obduracy, just lost a country with the world’s third-largest military and fifth-largest economy and Europe's only global city. The UK vote is a calamity for Brussels and could have been avoided had David Cameron been given a proper renegotiation – or at least something he could plausibly describe to voters as “far-reaching reform”.  Then any reluctant Leave voters, myself included, would have voted Remain.

So where does this leave us all?  Whilst the decision was clear, the margin of victory was narrow.  Were the EU to properly embrace reform, as Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister recognises, then I and I sense many others, could be persuaded to Remain.  We have two years to work this out.  If we don't, Juncker's vision of Europe will ignobly die under a wave of popular revolt, whilst the UK will embrace the world and prosper.

Drömling - Sperbergrassmücke und Biber

Drömling this Sunday morning with a grim determination to find a bird that has been eluding me for the past 2 years - the Sperbergrassmücke or, in English, Barred Warbler.  This attractive Sylvia species is fast approaching the eastern limíts of its distribution in Sachsen Anhalt and approximately 100 pairs breed in the Drömling and Kusey areas.  The males arrive on their breeding grounds usually towards the end of the first week in May and the females soon after.  Accordingly one needs to resist the temptation, so often the case in Spring, to search for them too early.  Sperbergrassmückes are traditionally associated with Red-backed Shrikes which inhabit similar landscapes and arrive pretty much at the same time.

Reserve area south of Kusey.  The areas of interest are the wetter meadows - marked in blue - towards the bottom centre of the map.

Sperbergrassmücke territory south of Kusey.  The bushes running through the centre of the photograph, are growing in a water filled ditch.

But there the similarities end.  Red-back Shrikes are abundant in the Drömling and slightly less so in Kusey.  Sperbergrassmücke, in my experience at least, are difficult to come by.  Despite the conduct of intelligence based searches throughout the area, I had so far drawn a blank.  Added to that, the sheer size of the search area has made the location of this species a difficult and frustrating affair.  I think that I have heard some birds signing in the past, including this spring, but Sperbergrassmücke can sound remarkably like Whitethroats and besides, a visual beats an aural any day.  Today my luck changed in a quite a dramatic way as I found 2 birds,  Both were male ands quite active flying to and from the wood line from the bushes shown in the photograph above.  However, both birds never exposed themselves for more than a couple of seconds before disappearing deep into the bush or hedge line.

Sperbergrassmücke - library photo.

Long distance shot - Red-backed Shrike - Kusey.

But what really made the morning was the combination of Sperbergrassmücke, Red-backed Shrike and an Icterine Warbler - the latter signing vociferously from the top of the same bush!  Nightingales were also plentiful but impossible to see, Yellowhammers all over the place but interestingly, in this slightly damper part of Kusey, no Ortolan Buntings.  Great Reed Warblers were pretty easy to come by often singing from smallest stand of reed and shrub.

Another habitat shot - Great Reed Warbler.

During my walk out I surprised a Beaver which proceeded to lie still in the water before my efforts to photograph it caused it to slap its tail on the water and dive.  I should say that the noise this made was considerable and must have been audible to any Beaver within 200 - 300 metres.  I was thrilled to see this animal.  It s easy to witness their activity throughout the Drömling in the form of flattened vegetation leading to water or of 'sawn' down trees and bushes, but its something else to see one! 

Beaver lodge - south of Kusey

European Beaver - library photograph

Approaching the car further north, the Ortolans appeared - I counted at least 6 signing males indicating their abundance in this area.  Any finally, a lovely view of a White Wagtail standing on some lily pads in a ditch.  A pretty good morning all in all!

Ortolan Bunting - Kusey

White (Alba) White Wagtail - Kusey