On 7 March a visit to Tierpark, my favourite zoo in the world, and Europe’s biggest landscape zoo.

There was not a whole lot going on, except the herons were busy building nests in the highest treetops, flying to and fro with building material. Such majestic and elegant flyers.

The hightlight was the black woodpecker – one of the rarer types of woodpeker, at least in Berlin – which I spotted towards the end of the afternoon on my way out.

I saw many great spotted woodpeckers. The first photo is of one flashing its characteristic red rump, and the second of a couple of pigeons, even more common, looking as if they were thinking of starting a family.

On Saturday 8 March a birdwatching walk with Volkshochschule Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Lichtenrader Wäldschen, led by ornithologist Enrico Hübner. The special focus was on woodpeckers, since apparently, all five Berlin woodpeckers had been spotted in the area. We saw many “Buntspechte”, a couple of Mittelspechte, one Scwarzspecht, and one Grünspeccht – the latter very high up. We saw and/or heard a total of 29 birds. I got one bad photo of the Grünspecht. The forest was quite dense so even without leaves on the trees, it was difficult to take photos.

On Sunday 9 March Landschaftsfriedhof Gatow and adjoining fields

“Spandau each month on the 9th”: Bezirksgruppe Spandau des NABU Berlin, led by Christine Kuhnert.

Very exciting – a cemetery I did not know existed, and lots of birds to see. I definitely want to go back, perhaps very early in the morning to the fields, and then enter the cemetery when it opens at 7.30.

Here is a not very good photo of a jay (Eichelhäher) and a kestrel/Turmfalke, and one of a raven/Kolkrabe of which we saw quite a few:

And a first for me: Yellowhammer/Goldammer. So beautiful:

The first two is of a chaffinch/Buchfink. I am not sure about the next two:

The long-tailed tit/Schwanzmeise I have seen many times but never managed to get a half-way decent photo. These are the best I have taken so far:

The next bunch probably need no introduction, except the last one which I was told was a Rotmilan.

Buzzard/Mäusebussard (the same on all three photos):