Three Days of Zoos and Birding Around Gdansk

---

First Day - Gdansk Zoo and Ptasi Raj Nature Reserve

On the first day, I started with the Zoo in the morning as that was something I definitely wanted to do. I was slightly worried about getting the whole zoo done in one day due to the fact that it is still on the winter closing time until the end of the month and closes at three, however I did manage to get it done, though I was there until a couple of minutes after closing time and didn't have much time to go back and look at anything again.

Although the zoo grounds are huge, I think about 100 ha are just unused forest which is really nice and gives the zoo a very nice setting surrounded by forest and lots of wild birds including quite a large number of ravens flying around and calling. Generally I thought the zoo was very good. For the most part, the standard of enclosures was very high apart from the small enclosures for tigers and bears (separate enclosures), the small elephant enclosure with a single African and a single Asian elephant, and some of the enclosures in the Bird and Reptile Pavilion (a single building) were small and bare. Mostly there were lots of large open paddocks, and the zoo reminded me of Whipsnade Zoo in the UK in many ways.

There weren't really many particularly unusual species, and for the most part there were just common species; however a few more unusual species included Feline Genets, and Mealy Amazons, and quite a few species that aren't rare in Europe as a whole but aren't held anywhere else in Poland such as Guira Cuckoos. There were also large numbers of domestic species such as Cattle, Llamas, Alpacas, Camels, and Yaks and some of these had enclosures significantly larger than the Elephant enclosure! I think Gdansk Zoo generally has a lot of underused potential with a huge area, and room for improvement although it is a very nice zoo and I did enjoy my visit, it could be even better.

After visiting the zoo, due to it being only a little after three, I persuaded my parents that a birding trip would be appropriate (they had been doing other things in Gdansk while I was at the zoo).
I have the book 'Birding in Poland' which was extremely useful for planning birding trips so on its advice I visited the Ptasi Raj Nature Reserve on the coast. A lot of the area was forest and extensive reed beds which should be full of various Warblers and things in the summer; however at this time of year is still the time to look for wintering waterbirds. First I came across the fairly large lake which didn't have anything that was very interesting apart from some Geese, but then I came up to the very large lagoon type thing (see google maps with 'Rezerwat Ptasi Raj' for a layout) which was full of waterbirds, largely sea ducks. There was an observation tower looking over the reed beds and the highlights were dozens of Goldeneyes including lots of Drakes displaying, as well as Common and Red-breasted Mergansers, Long-tailed Ducks, Smews, Shelducks, Scaup, various Geese, various gulls, and some other more common ducks. By the time I had finished at this area it was getting dark so we had to go back and couldn’t go all the way up to the sea, but still some amazing birds.





Second Day - Beka Nature Reserve and Hel Spit

On the second day, we planned to visit the Hel spit, which is quite an interesting place for both birding and in general. On the way though, we stopped for some birding at Beka Nature Reserve which was lots of flooded fields, some arable land, some small areas of forest, and a white sand beach along the coast. Due to going the wrong way at first and not being able to find it, I didn't have a huge amount of time there, however some interesting species seen were White-tailed Sea-eagles, Great White Egrets, Red-throated and Meadow Pipits, Velvet Scoters, Greylag Geese, Greater Black-backed Gulls, and Hen-harriers.

We then went for lunch, and after that took the highway to Hel to visit the Hel spit. It is a fairly long, large spit that sticks out into the Baltic Sea forming the shallow Bay of Puck on the inland side. It is quite narrow in places and is only a few hundred metres across, but towards the end gets much thicker. There are beaches on both sides, and woodland in the middle and a road goes all the way along it. I liked the spit a lot, it was very interesting, and had quite a few birds including lots of gulls, some sea ducks, shelducks, and a small number of waders including Common Ringed Plovers and subspecies schinzii of Dunlins. I think we were slightly too early for the best of the birds though, as there are supposed to be lots more waders as well as warblers and migrating raptors later into the migrating time. We also visited the town of Hel at the end of the spit which was a rather quaint seaside town, and had a small exhibit of Grey Seals called the Fokarium (Foka is seal in Polish) which was a fairly good exhibit with an entry fee of 5zl (a little under £1) housing – I counted five – seals in a pretty good enclosure with displays around.


Third Day - Gdynia Aquarium and Mewia Lacha Nature Reserve

The third day was our final day in Gdansk and the plan was to have a late start and just do some birding in the evening; however I persuaded my parents to drive me to Gdynia about half an hour away to visit the Aquarium. The aquarium was located right on the seaside in a large building with the aquarium occupying half of it. I was very impressed with the aquarium overall, it was nicely done up with various displays and signage and some nice tanks. There were also quite a few fairly unusual species and there were possibly more oddities that I didn’t fully appreciate due to not knowing that much about fish. The aquarium was divided over three floors with different sections which were the Baltic Sea Chamber, at the Border of Land and Water (some reptiles, amphibians, and fish such as mangrove species), Education Chamber (a museum type display without live animals), Coral Reef, Aquatic Animals of the World, and Amazonia, and the aquarium wasn’t huge nor very small overall, and I spent an hour and a half there, though I would have spent longer if I wasn’t trying to leave time for birding. The signage was mostly all there (quite good by aquarium signage standards, with none of those ridiculous electronic or touchscreen signs), and most tanks were quite good apart from a few such as a small bare Dwarf Crocodile Enclosure. There were also views over the Baltic Sea from the windows with the aquarium being on the first, second and third floors.

After the aquarium we went back for lunch in the historical Town Centre of Gdansk, and then went for a final birding trip at Mewia Lacha Nature Reserve which is located at the mouth of the Vistula River. It was quite windy and a bit overcast, but it was quite a nice reserve with some forests, and sand bars and spits at the end. There were also some sheltered lagoons right at the mouth of the river, which had a variety of gulls, sea ducks, and a large number of cormorants. A sand islet a few hundred metres off the coast also had a large group of Baltic Grey Seals. It was however extremely windy and cold out at this area, so we couldn’t stay for too long, and as we were walking back to the car before sunset it also started raining.

---