Safeguarding Frogs and Birds in Masuria, Poland

Dear All,

This report covers the period from May 16, 2023, to March 14, 2024 and is our sixteenth report on the project of Safeguarding Frogs and Birds in Masuria, Poland.

Enclosed are a few pictures of our park with some evidence of our winter lumbering works. Due to the poor health condition of some of the park trees like common ash, black alder and small-leaved linden, we had to cut down 12 trees during the winter 2023/2024.

In addition we had to deal with two fallen trees so there were 14 trees in total to be cut down and removed. Most of them were about 20-25 meters tall, so it is easy to guess that it was a big chalenge to perform these lumbering works.

As you can notice on some of the pictures we had some snow this winter. Fortunately it was enough to fill the park's pond with water. It seems it might be enough to have fire-bellied toad come back for the Springtime breeding. The whole Masuria region is struggling with not enough rain and snowfall. This is a major problem for the shallow water amphibians like fire-bellied toad.

Many thanks for your generous donations wired to our accout last December, January, February and March. It has helped us out to cover some of the expenses for cutting down trees.

We do really appreciate your wonderful support,
Grazyna Polkowska