Another overcast day

People have started work on their fields now so the sound and even smell of tractors is back after a long pause.

We drove to Sokolka after I made my yesterday's posting and took a few interesting shots and we met some young and enthusiastic people, the Ts and made some new discoveries, of which I'm sure later. They are interested in local history and have edited the autobiography of someone called Adam Buckiewicz 1810-1895 which offers a rare insight into these parts at that time.

I got a few shots of meter thick concrete bunkers which belonged to the Molotof line, actually not too interesting in themselves. Some poor people had to spend a few cold Christmases in them, perish the thought. Not far away from there was the Ribbentrop line.

There were storks, geese and ducks by the way, not forgetting the various new roundabouts that have started cropping up. There is also the rash of improbably dimensioned new churches in the region. Sokolka is apparently the site of recent 'miracles'...

We came back late, as is the custom, having had to pause for a while for the border guards to ponder over our documents. They were very polite so I didn't ask about their pencils.

That was all yesterday, and today all I managed was a few more bird photos. I have fine one of a chaffinch, but I don't want to bore you with yet another. I'm not sure what this one is, but it has resin on its beak and is nest building in the fir that it is perched in.