Damon Bridge's blog

An incredibly intense last two days have now come to an end and we are sitting around a camp-fire at the Glambekker Mill finally trying to relax - but knowing that we need to be up at five tomorrow morning to start the long journey back. All collection has gone incredibly well and we have now taken 25 eggs in total for transport to the UK, with seven travelling back in this current batch.

A busy day collecting. Photos below show Beate Blahy from Vielfalt Biosphere and Pensthorpes' Roland Digby collecting eggs in a feldsoll (field hollow), the mill pool at dawn, RSPB's Richard Archer and the RSPB's film crew in the swamp.  Finally a picture of egg 21 .... Collected and ready for incubation.

A selection of photos from our latest adventures here in Brandenburg. An alder swamp and view across Biosphere Reserve from a drumlin (A post glacial morain that forms a small hill).

And finally....Beate collecting eggs and a crane in a typical nesting site outside of the forest in a feldsol (a pingo...or wet swampy hollow formed at the end of the ice age as the permafrost melted).

Arrived at the mill finally after an 18 hour journey by taxi, train, tube, plane, subway, highspeed train, slow train, and a lift in the crane truck courtesy of richard. All pretty smooth...especially the high speed train - known as the ice train. ( intercontinental express ). Loved Berlin station a real shrine to minimalism and industrial architecture. Also loved the doubledecker slow train...what a great way to pack in more passengers whilst giving them fantastic views!

Had a call first thing to say that Nige and Roland will aim to set off Friday early morning from the Mill to make it to a late afternoon Eurotunnel train - a day earlier than expected - but back on track of the previous schedule before the flight cancellations...and St Georges day too... all very apt!  

Had a great chat with the team last night from the mill in Brandenburg although I think they had forgotten that we are an hour ahead in the UK. 

It was wonderful to hear them...its quite an odd feeling holding the fort here in the UK - and the phone reception in that part of Germany is not good!  

Watched the 10 o'clock news last night....and discovered that more clouds of ash from Eyjafjallajökull are heading Europe’s way, so booked myself onto the Eurostar to Paris – and an overnight DeutschBahn train to Berlin.

Couldn’t have predicted that a volcanic ash was going to change our plans – but it has.  With no flights currently out of Heathrow or across Europe for the forsee-able future due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland, Nigel has now set off overland to Brandenburg in a hired van to join Roland and Richard, and I need to get on with sorting out new import licences as it looks likely that the first batch of eggs will come in through Folkestone via the Eurotunnel, rather than London Heathrow via a Lufthansa flight!   

My first blog!  Very very exciting times for me - following a year of preparation, consent gaining, awareness raising, construction and planning  and all seems to be finally coming together.  

We have just received the last bits of paperwork from Animal Health (DEFRA) to bring the eggs back via Heathrow, and are just double checking the process for getting the eggs onto and off the Lufthansa plane in Hamburg and Heathrow.