A young chiffchaff fell from its nest and will soon return to his temporary cardboard box home: A visit to the National Ornithological Station,  Hessia,  Enkheim, Frankfort.

In a very interesting talk the director of the station, Dr. Martin Hormann, told interesting stories about the wood pidgeon’s “slovenly built nests”, the polygamous habits of the wren and the jay bird’s relevance for the endurance of oak forests. One of my favourites though was the shitty tactics of male fieldfares  in combat with magpies: A true alternative to consider now as the cherries are ripening.

Moreover, some views of bird homes adapted to the needs of different kinds of birds in size and nesting habits. Details on this will possibly follow when I find the time…

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It’s a very modest sign that announces the “Piccolo Zoo” just across the road behind Syracusa’s archeological park. A papyrus [Cyperus papyrus] lined gravel road leads to a gate that opens into a garden-like picknick zone operated by Angelo (and his family) who is in charge of a multitude of hens, roosters (permanently crowing), ducks and more ducks, geese, parakeets, canaries, pheasants, two swans (at least) plus a wire confinement lived in by guinea pigs, rabbits, goats and probably still something else. The garden design is enhanced by glass balloons, vases, broken plaster remants and white enamelled chairs and tables. Apart from tending the picknick area and gardening, he might even be the creator of the two giant paper-maché heads towering behind the bushes.

The “Piccolo Zoo” is at the same time one of the places where the art of making paper from the papyrus plant is explained and administered. A wooden hut in the middle of the premises serves as a semi-touristy but very charming selling point of the fabricated sheets. The town of Syracuse has its own paper museum which certainly gives ALL information about the history and the process of paper creation. But the “Little Zoo” has something “airy-fairy” about it that is hard to grasp. Last but not least the wooden hut is wonderfully climatized– an absoute blessing today!

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“Hejo, spann den Wagen an”, a very traditional canon in German language. Sung at the table on occasion of Mme Stoering’s “Salon”. Topic of the evening war “music”.

If you want to sing along, this is the German text:

Hejo, spann den Wagen an,
Sieh, der Wind treibt Regen übers Land
Hol die goldnen Garben,
Hol die goldnen Garben.

translates into:

Heigh ho! Hitch up the cart,
See, the wind drives rain across the land.
Fetch the golden sheaves,
Fetch the golden sheaves.

The English traditional is much less garden orientated:

Heigh-ho! Anybody home.
Food and drink and money have I none.
Still I will be merry, still I will be merry.

And then there is still a strange Low-German-English(?) dialect version:

Hey-o spun den wagon uns,
Set der ven tribt regen ubers lands,
Olde folin gabin,
Olde folin gabin.

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