Many signs can indicate the return of spring: temperatures are rising, trees are flowering, frogs are singing… And birds are returning from migration! For a bird lover like me, it’s a good sign! First species that came back to Bozevce was wood lark (Lullula arborea), on 16th of February. This species will not spend the winter far away: in Albania, Greece, or Bulgaria, along the milder climate shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Woodlark (Ján Svetlík, CC BY-SA 2.0) Then, I heard the first Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) on 10th of March. Chiffchaffs also spend winter quite close to ..read more

One evening, as I was going to bed, a sweet but faint sound reached my ears: “ououho … ououho…” Eagle-owl! Since that evening, we heard quite often the territorial calling of the biggest owl in the world. This song, only emitted by the male, is very powerful and can be heard up to 4 km! It’s used to delimitate the (huge) territory (15-80km²) of the eagle owl and for courtship. But let’s start from the beginning and let me present to you the eagle-owl. Eagle owl holding a European pine marten (CC-BY-SA, Martin Mecnarowski) Sixty to seventy centimetres high, more than a meter and a half in wings ..read more

In all my articles so far, I have only talked about birds. However, birds are not my favourite groups of animals! In fact, I love insects and I even worked a few months as an entomologist (specialist of insects). But there is another group that interests me a lot: amphibians. Why? Thanks to my father. He used to work for the French office for water and aquatic environments and is very sensitive to the fate of aquatic habitats, and that of their most emblematic inhabitants: amphibians. With him, and since I was a child, we have been going to count frog clutches, walking in the forest at nightfa ..read more

Today, I’m going to tell you about a bird with a very particular lifestyle: the dipper! Dipper (Cinclus cinclus) – Simon Rizzi-CC-BY It’s a passerine, like Tits, Sparrows, or Jay… but a passerine that spends a lot of time in water! The dipper is a small, stocky bird. Its head and nape are chocolate-colored, and its plastron is white. It can be observed in fast-flowing, clear-water rocky streams and rivers with riffles and exposed rocks, and with abundant invertebrate prey. A good part of his time is spent doing a series of dives in all seasons – up to 600 times a day! It enters underwater for ..read more

Last weekend, when snow was falling and temperatures were below zero, I went to Perlepnica lake to count Waterbirds as part of the International Waterbird Census (IWC). IWC is an international programme that has been organized since 1967 in 143 countries, and which uses waterbirds as an indicator of the status of wetlands. In fact, Waterbirds are a key part of wetland ecosystems and therefore, their presence, numbers and trends at a site can tell us a lot about the health and quality of a wetland. Moreover, this program also aims to monitor the status of waterbirds for themselves, and to incre ..read more

Among the birds that frequent the feeders in Bozevce, one is of special interest for me: the Sombre Tit (Poecile lugubris). Why? Because this species does not live in France, and I was therefore able to observe it for the first time here. So, it’s a discovery for me, but not for Bozevce, because some ornithologists (scientists studying birds) came to Bozevce a few years ago and recorded it. About as big as the Great Tit, the Sombre Tit looks like Willow Tit in coloration. However, apart from its size, some others features, like the very large bib, make it easy to recognize. The Sombre Tit is ..read more

Winter is a harsh season for birds: frozen ground and snow prevents birds from finding their food. Moreover, modern agricultural techniques tend to reduce the food resources available (seeds left standing in crops, berries in shrubs, etc.). Therefore, feeding birds can help them get through the winter. Tree sparrow and Great Tit Winter starts quite strong here: 20 cm of snow at the end of November (which melt quite fast), and since then, frost almost every morning (except this week). Therefore, we decided to install 4 birdfeeders, to offer food to the birds, but also to study them. In fact, bi ..read more

Last week, with Alex, we had the chance to observe a Balkan horned lark (Eremophila alpestris balcanica), at what we call “the rock”. The place is actually called Prilepac or Odžin Kamen, and from there we can even see the Shar Mountains. But let’s talk more about horned larks, called like this because of the small black “horns” made of feathers that they bear on their heads. Horned lark is a small species of bird which has a very large distribution: it can be found in Europe, in Asia, in North America, in North Africa and even in some parts of the Andes! The horned larks that live in Kosovo a ..read more

Roots of Permaculture is available for youth work practicionaires that are interested to learn how to use permaculture in social settings. The maunal is translated to Albanian and French languages and complemented with the set of educational cards. 3PS_Publication-A5_EN_web_1 (1)Download Educational cards with permaculture principels and ethics. 3PS_Cards_Presentation_3Download 3PEAs manual in Albanian language is availble for free download and use! 3PS_Publication-A5_ABL_webDownload ..read more

I just started my volunteering in Bozevce with GAIA, since maybe one month, when I participated to the training for coordinators in natural building. I didn’t know what to expect to it, except to meet new people and to learn technics of natural building. Actually, I only had a dim idea of what non formal education was, and I thought that it could be relevant to have more knowledges about natural building before to plan to teach it. Still today, I don’t think to be able to explain, with words, what is non formal education, but I can tell what this collective experience, which was very different ..read more