A Walk in the Black Forest.

Last Friday, the 29th, I headed off to Gatwick after leaving work at 12:30pm to spend the weekend in Germany with my daughter and her fiance.
It took around an hour and half longer than it should have due to heavy traffic most of the way, but I was still in good time to meet up with Lydia and catch our 7pm flight. The flight takes around an hour an ten minutes, so at about nine fifteen local time we arrived at Basle airport to be met by Tom. To get to Frieburg in Germany you have to fly to a Swiss airport which is half in France and then drive over the border to Germany, Bizarre !
The next morning after breakfast we headed to an area known as the Kaiserstuhl to visit some vineyards for some wedding wine tasting, seeing a White Stork feeding in the fields on the way. At the first place I tried a few, but not being a great lover of white wines soon lost interest, so when we pitched up at the next one decided to hang around outside and get some birding in.

There was plenty to keep me occupied with a large group of Common Kestrels, the most I'd ever seen at one time,Common Redstart, Yellowhammer and fly over Common Buzzards and Ravens.
At the next and last vineyard I again opted for the car park and was rewarded with good views of a Hoopoe.
It was now nearly time for lunch and we drove around looking for a suitable 'Besen' or wine makers/ farmers restaurant. These 'pop-up' eateries are allowed to sell their produce for four months of the year with tax exemption and are advertised with a decorated besom broom at the door to show they are open.
I chose for my lunch a Flammkurchen, which is sort of like a pizza but with a hard pastry like base.

Yum !

We then headed back into Frieburg and walked into the old town passing the railway on the way.

As I work in the train industry I can never resist taking pics of trains, particularly electrified ones. Sad I know !  The old town of Frieburg is lovely with open streams that run down the pavement. Its said that if you accidentally step in the water you'll marry a Frieburger.

 We made our way to the Frieburg minster and climbed the bell tower, all 209 steps. I was nearly dead when I got to the top but was rewarded with 'crippling' views of the Alpine Swifts that breed around here.

After coming back down and to help me recover we went to the Hausbrauerei Feierling brewery and sat in the large beer garden. Turning my nose up at the lager I went for a weissbier (Wheat Beer).

Smoking is still very much in evidence here, so that al fresco dining and drinking isn't quite the pleasant experience that it has become in England. We spent the evening at friends of Tom & Lydia's eating at drinking into the early hours.
The next morning I was again the first up and spent a while on the balcony of the apartment watching the Swifts, also adding another Common Redstart and a Spotted Flycatcher.
When the others were up and about and after breakfast we headed up the Steinwald for a walk up the mountain.

For lunch we went to the Holzschagermatte restaurant and sitting outside in the glorious sunshine I heard a Yellowhammer call, looking around though what grabbed my attention was a large 'stocky' bird on top a evergreen at the back of the car park. My first impression was Shrike, but when I moved closer and got my bins onto it I saw it was a Crossbill, but too large and 'bull-necked' for a common so the only other alternative must be a 'Parrot'. My camera was locked in the car along with my 'Collins' so I couldn't get any record shots. A few minutes later it was joined by a second bird, and then they both flew off.
When I later checked my Collins, I was happy with the Id, but not with the distribution map for the species.
Back in the UK, I searched for records of Parrot Crossbill in Germany and found that they do indeed occur in the Black Forest.
In the late afternoon we met up with some Tom & Lydia's friends for drinks and then an evening meal. But all too soon it was time for Lydia and I to head to the airport and our flight back to the UK. WE took off on time and were back at Gatwick around 10:45pm local time. I then had a three hour drive back to Somerset, arriving home around 3:15am as I had to stop a few times to rest when I was nodding off.