On the second day it was a bit of a relief to make a short trip to Stein am Rhein and its beautiful mediaeval buildings.
There wasn't that much to see on the nature front. A couple of jays turned up as did a couple of black redstarts and both birds turned into regular sightings throughout the rest of the tour. I've seen black redstarts in Germany several times before and notice they often turn up where there is some sort of intensive agricultural activity, in this area notably maize production. There was also another very
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| Small-flowered cranesbill |
dark squirrel and a lot of house martins over the Rhein near Diessenhofen, plus a few unremarkable dragonflies.
However I did come across a nice example of this small-flowered cranesbill, which the bike conveniently fell over, framing it nicely.
On the next day I moved on quite quickly, deciding to spend some time looking at the nature reserve at Mettnau. Unfortunately, part of the path was still flooded from yesterday and all I saw was things I'd already spotted (several coots) but it did have the highest bird hide I have ever been on and produced one flower I couldn't identify. There are supposed to be one or two rarities in the area so I'd like to know what it was.
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| High hide |
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| Unidentified flower |
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This area is supposed to be a home for the camberwell beauty and goldon oriole, but as they are both summer visitors I was more disappointed not to see any birds of prey from the hide. A massive area of the lake and the wetland was visible. You'd have thought that something would be on the move.
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