Trip to Graz, Austria
23/05/23
I woke up at half past three in the morning as our flight to Amsterdam was at 6 o’clock in the morning. We (my family and I) had to stop off at Amsterdam as there wasn’t a direct flight from Cork to Graz. After I got up, I got ready and saw a brown house moth. At Cork Airport, there was a jackdaw, I thought this would be a good last observation in Ireland for a few days. On the plane with KLM, we we’re given strange egg sandwiches, which we politely refused. We arrived in Amsterdam, we had to stay there for 6 hours, which was OK as the airport was really large. After another flight and another sandwich refusal, (beemster cheese this time) we arrived in Graz.
The first day there I went on a walk around the hotel, all I saw was some sparrows and a lot of arion slugs! They were everywhere, most likely because it had rained earlier that day.
24/05/23
The next day we went to a large shopping centre in Seiersburg and the only thing I saw that wasn’t planted or in a fish tank was some sparrows outside the shopping centre.
25/05/23
The third day was interesting, we went to a clock tower in Graz City Centre. I saw a house sparrow, a great tit, a hooded crow, a red horse chestnut, a siberian iris, loads of beetles and much much more, including a common wall lizard. We walked into the city centre and I got nuts to feed some birds, house sparrows and feral pigeons. I’m happy I saw the interesting beetles and plants, but all the birds I saw I could have seen in Ireland.
26/05/23
The fourth day, we went to Stradpark Graz, a park in Graz where you could supposedly see some red squirrels. When we got there, the first thing I saw was some nuthatches, which were cool, and something that wasn’t in Ireland, but not squirrels. There was a pond with some mallards and flowers growing around it, but still no squirrels. I also saw a common raven, a great tit and a interestingly-coloured feral pigeon. I came home from the park without seeing any squirrels though…
27/05/23
The fifth day was our last day, I went on another walk but this time towards Premstätten, I saw a house sparrow, eurasian collared-dove, a triangle crab spider, a bird nest carpet beetle and a seven-spotted lady beetle, which had tiny traces of hesperomyces harmoniae, aswell as a european firebug.
28/05/23
The sixth day was the day we were leaving. After a flight and some more strange sandwiches, we were in Amsterdam. This time, we got a train into Amsterdam City and I saw a great crested grebe and two (very cute) chicks. After another flight we were home in Cork.
