Gone are the misty days. The sky is blue during the day and clear at night. We recorded – 8 degrees C on the weather record sheet on Wednesday morning. Although the snow is covered by a layer of ice in most places, we were still able to find fresh animal tracks on our surveys.
Martin, Timothy and I walked Čiernávy valley on Tuesday and found wolf, bear and many, many foxes. On the way out, we walked past an active wood-cutting site where a massive tree blocked. By the time we came back, it had disappeared.
In Turecka valley Saskia, Vincent and Noro found fresh wolf tracks and replaced a couple of camera traps.
Ed, Connor, Holger and Tomas found another bear “playground”, fresh wolf tracks nearby and recorded an otter track. “Technical problems” with the snow shoes slowed them down on the way back, they said. They walked the more than knee deep snow without aid – well done guys, that’s expedition style! 😉
Noro’s team had somehow manipulated the GPS – their odometer reading was 30 km. After some discussion during the de-brief, we agreed on a total distance walked of around 35 km for all teams.
We will be collecting camera traps from Thursday onward, in order to have brought back to base all 18 of them by Friday afternoon. On the cameras that have been replaced on Wednesday we found a great video, have a look:
Besides quite a few pictures of fox, wolf and wild boar were also recorded by the cameras, but no more lynx. Keep your fingers crossed for more good results in the coming days.
From our conservation holiday volunteering with lynx, wolves, bears and wildcats in the Carpathian mountains of Slovakia (http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/slovakia).
Biosphere Expeditions: blogs from the frontline of wildlife conservation and the fight for a more sustainable planet 