A few days ago we finally went for a walk in the forest. We hadn’t been there since autumn. The weather was sunny and there was a slight frost. It was mid-February, and we heard a crane calling, and quite close. We were heading in that direction. After driving about 300 m, we saw a crane walking in the meadow. It was walking and calling. The distance was about 150 m. I took a few photos and a short recording. Too far away for good shots. I didn’t want to approach it so as not to scare it away. That’s all from our trip. It’s been freezing cold since then. Today, quite a lot of snow fell. What about the crane? Will it survive? We know that there are more cranes like that. This year’s winter is playing tricks on us.

Many years ago, there were no such winter anomalies. The snow usually stayed until spring. It was sometimes earlier, but it sometimes ended in April. There were winter thaws. The snow thawed a bit and then there was snow and frost again. Below are some photos of this poor crane.

 A decade of January has already passed. There is still no sign of winter here. The temperature sometimes drops to -3 degrees Celsius at night. Snow also barely covers the fields. Winter forecasts for the country are sometimes alarming. A lot of snow has fallen in many regions. Winter has not reached us, where it has always been the coldest. Road workers and drivers are happy. Probably forest animals and birds too. We are starting to get used to the climate change. Fortunately, winters did not disappoint us in our childhood. As children, we first used the ice and then the snow. We spent whole days outside during our free time from school. There was a lot of fun in the snow and ice. Below I am posting a few photos to commemorate the current weather.

It’s already mid-December. There’s been no frost or snow yet. But it’s not easy for birds anymore. Let’s feed birds in winter. It’s nice to watch them at the feeder. Birds quickly find places with food. For many reasons, there are fewer birds here. We hardly see some species anymore. Even the population of tits and sparrows is clearly decreasing. Spring will come and the birds will reward us by collecting insects in our fields, forests, orchards. In spring, it’s nice to listen to birds singing and watch them raising their young.

In the photos below the black-capped tit

     They say that autumn is the best time to photograph autumn. It’s true, we have colourful trees, autumn fogs in the morning. However, late autumn is coming. The trees become bare, and the days are cloudy and gray. Sometimes the views are almost black and white. The rainy weather is not conducive to walking or photography. You can try small elements of nature in the forest. Such macro images can be interesting. You need creativity to take interesting photos at this time.  

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   It is said that autumn landscapes are a photographer’s favorite subject. The richness of colors, autumn mists and soft light are conducive to obtaining beautiful photos. Of course, you should look for good views and choose the right light. If you take a photo without much thought, it may turn out that the autumn landscape will be so-so. Sometimes a photo of a small element of nature is much more interesting than a landscape. Many attractive opportunities can be found in the forest. Trees take on various colors. Photos of mushrooms and mosses can be interesting. Here are a few photos taken with a smartphone and a SLR camera.

     This summer we have an abundance of elderberry clusters here. So it’s worth making the juice. There is a lot of information about the properties of this juice on the Internet. I won’t quote them here. However, I will present the process of making the juice. It took me about 20 minutes to collect the bunches of fruit. You have to make sure that the fruit is fully ripe and juicy. Sometimes there are bushes with fruit that is already drying out. The next steps took place in the kitchen. After washing the clusters, I started separating the fruit from them. This was the longest part of the work, but it was easy. Then I prepared a fruit slow juicer. This device makes the work much easier. After a few minutes, I already had pure juice. Then I heated the contents in a pot and added sugar. I determined the amount by tasting it so that it was quite sweet. Then I poured the hot juice into jars and pasteurized it for a fairly short time. And the process is over. We will use it in the autumn and winter.