It is a stressful life having White Storks upon your home! From the season's outset to its sudden premature end, 2007 was a one event after another, beginning with the late arrivals of both the male and female and then, a little over six weeks later, culminating in a dramatic and totally unexpected attack by another stork, a frenzied affair that left me with an empty nest, four bloodied chicks in my hands and a season at a failure.   

Two chicks died from their wounds, the remaining two struggle on ...despite head and serious neck injuries, they made it through the first critical 48 hours. As I write, they are in care, feeding well and, if all goes to plan, stand every chance of a return to the wild in time for autumn migration. A small silver lining in an otherwise rather dark affair.

An ongoing project, the aim is to photograph and identify all the species of Odonata that occur on my Labanoras land. Four broad areas across the land are particularly attractive to both dragonflies and damselflies - the pools excavated in 2004; a small marshy area in a hollow near the woodland; the woodland fringe itself; and the flood forest interiors, a mosaic of shallow waters and deeper areas of standing water.

Over 60 species of Odonata have been recorded in Lithuania and there is every reason to suppose a significant number of these might occur on my land ...the only challenge being to identify them, I freely admit to being a novice in this field and all notes presented on status are preliminary, based on the 2007 season and limited observations from previous years. So far, the results of my first serious season engaged in this interest, 31 species have been noted.

At a national level, Rollers were still fairly widespread in Lithuania in the mid-1990s, occurring in their best numbers in southern and eastern parts of the country, most notably in Dzukija and Aukstaitija. In those days, two to three pairs bred at Baltoji Voke, another near Marcinkonys and it was a bird I would see with some regularity. Then came the decline, the national population slumped, the birds at Baltoji Voke disappeared and the species became locally extinct across many parts of the country. The decline, possibly due to changes on the wintering grounds, left Rollers in Lithuania in a precarious situation, a mere scattering of pairs in pockets across the former range.

In the current day, although the Labanoras and Aukstaitija areas are probably the stronghold, the sighting of a Roller anywhere in Lithuania is a rare event. Though only a guess, the population is quite possibly down into the tens, almost certainly not much higher.

Though nine species of woodpecker breed in Lithuania, several have restricted ranges, occur in very low densities and are listed in the country's Red Data Book. For whatever the reason, in the course of an average year's birding, I would rarely see more than four or five species, perhaps six if I was lucky.

Wouldn't it be nice if that situation were to change! It had been my intention with the creation of a reserve to establish a feeding station that might attract in a few of these species, perhaps even one of the rarer ones! However, even in my wildest imagination, I could never have prepared myself for success that was to follow! The story begins back in the autumn of 2004 ...setting eyes upon the woodland at the heart of my soon-to-be reserve, the forest just screamed 'woodpecker'! I had found all the ingredients I was hoping for - a mix of mature deciduous trees, a lot of dead standing wood and a mosaic of habitats from dry woodland through to flood forest, the latter being alders and birches standing in a metre of water.

Step one was to establish the feeding station, a quiet spot on the divide between the dry and wet woodlands, step two was to wait. Soon the birds would arrive...

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