Early spring in central Poland
I really love this time in nature, and this year - after many years - we’re finally getting a proper early spring. In recent years, snowless winters would just quietly fade into spring almost without notice. It was dry, dull, and kind of grey all around. This season is different. Winter isn’t giving up so easily - ice is still holding on to small lakes and old riverbeds, everything is much wetter and muddier, and the mornings can still surprise you with a real bite of cold.
Winter is putting up a fight, but the signs of spring are impossible to miss. The meadows are suddenly full of life - every now and then you can spot flocks of geese and cranes passing overhead. Their calls carry far and wide, and there’s no mistaking them for anything else.
There’s plenty happening on thThere’s plenty happening on the water too. Greylag geese stop by to rest during their journey, and swans are starting to gather for the breeding season. Big and small bodies of water alike are coming alive, and the soundscape is changing fast. That’s probably the most noticeable shift - everywhere you turn, there’s birdsong. The first skylarks singing high above, the whistles of starlings, the distinctive calls of lapwings - which always remind me a bit of radio waves sounds. And somewhere further out, on the wetlands, the real show begins - cranes. Their loud, echoing calls travel across the landscape, and if you’re lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of their incredible dances and courtship displays.e water too. Greylag geese stop by to rest during their journey, and swans are starting to gather for the breeding season. Big and small bodies of water alike are coming alive, and the soundscape is changing fast. That’s probably the most noticeable shift - everywhere you turn, there’s birdsong. The first skylarks singing high above, the whistles of starlings, the distinctive calls of lapwings - which always remind me a bit of radio waves sounds. And somewhere further out, on the wetlands, the real show begins - cranes. Their loud, echoing calls travel across the landscape, and if you’re lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of their incredible dances and courtship displays.
The visual changes are happening too, just more quietly. If you take a closer look at trees, shrubs, or old wooden fences, everything seems a bit more vivid. Lichens, after the winter, suddenly look full of life again. And then there are the first buds on branches - still small, still closed, but clearly ready to burst open, adding soft touches of color to the landscape. At times, it almost feels as colorful as autumn.
It’s not quite full spring yet - flowers and leaves haven’t fully emerged, the ground is still wet, and mornings can be properly cold. But everything is clearly in motion now. And that’s what makes this time so special - the energy, that feeling that any moment now it will all turn green, loud, and unmistakably spring.
