On the occassion of the EU seeing reason: a post about urban nature.
And by "urban" I mean the place where I live, Berlin Marzahn-Hellersdorf (although, actually, I refuse to acknowledge Hellersdorf as part of the Berlin district I live in. Hellersdorf is weird. It's always been weird. It's a place I do not identify with. I still live and will forever live in a Berlin with the borders of 2000, when the world was still right and Marzahn wasn't joined with Hellersdorf yet).
Anyway, usually, when I tell people that I'm from Marzahn, they apparently immediately jump to this (which, BTW, isn't Marzahn at all, it's Gropiusstadt, which is in West Berlin):
even though in truth it looks like this:
And out here, right at the border to Brandenburg (the German federal state that surrounds Berlin, which is mostly agriculture with lots of fields - mostly wheat and other grains, rape (the one you make canola oil from) and fruit and veg (especially cherries, asparagus, turnips, potatoes and strawberries but really all kinds) - lifestock, and a few smaller cities and villages dotted in between. It's quite nice, actually. So maybe, if you think about coming to Germany, skip Bavaria or at least put in some time for the north-eastern states like Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, too, huh?), it's even greener than in those pictures.
Right now, we have a riot of flowering fruit and pseudo-fruit trees here, tons of trees and bushes bursting with green and meadows and lawns growing wildly. I agree that in winter, Marzahn can look a little... drab but honestly, Berlin winters aren't for the faint of heart in general, and I'm pretty sure that not even the big parks like Tiergarten or Grunewald are much of a delight in the heart of winter, not to mention the inner city parts that have a lot less green to begin with. In general, though, Berlin is a surprisingly green big city, but if you want more than just a couple trees dotted along a street and a small backyard with bushes and a lawn and affordable rents (Berlin is still a city of renters, despite all attempts to change that), you actually should consider doing the unthinkable und unfashionable and consider looking for a place in Marzahn or Hellersdorf (even though Hellersdorf is weird). Just take it from me, do not move to anywhere inside the S-Bahn ring, no matter how much everyone tells you that it's the only place to live. In fact, most Berliners live outside the S-bahn ring, and anyone telling you you must live in the inner city is an idiot who has probably never even set foot inside this city.
Anyway. What I wanted to say: when I tell people where I live, they usually seem to think that it's all concrete and nothing else. In truth, nature here is surprisingly diverse. I'm not good with plants but I know animals. Just consider the birds (birbs, really <3) who regularly visit us on our balcony: magpies, starlings, blackbirds, sparrows and tits, multiple times a day (I'm pretty sure one of them keeps eating my sweet cicely. Bad birb. BAD birb!). We also have at least one nest of wild bees on the balcony, and I'm pretty sure it's been there for a couple years now (wild bees are about the most peaceful insects I have ever encountered. All they want is drink away at the plants we have on the balcony and buzz around a little and be left in peace. If you encounter a nest of wild bees on your property, please leave them the hell alone. They usually don't hurt you, and they're really important for pollination. And if you have to remove them, do not kill them. Find a local conservation society or organisation for wildlife protection and ask them to do it for you (in Germany, just call your local NABU office, they usually have people who can do this professionally without hurting you or the bees). Bees. Bees are our friends!). I love to watch those little cuties buzz in and out, pollinating my strawberries and being very busy and cute!
Also, other animals I can either hear or have encountered, either when out running or coming home late at night: THE LOUDEST NIGHTINGALE EVER TO EXIST (he's back, by the way. He comes to the neighborhood every damn year and sings his little heart out and how can such a small bird be so fucking loud? God, I hope he finds a female soon. Nerd.), jaybirds (I didn't even know you could actually see them in the wild, until I started running through the nature reserve that's five minutes away from here. They were there. In droves. It made me ridiculously happy), foxes (Berlin is full of foxes. Once I saw one cross this really, really busy road, which is smack dab in the middle of the city, cutting one of the biggest inner city forest areas I know in half, and it like stood there, looked left, looked right, crossed in a relaxed jog, waited in the middle, crossed the second part and came out right in front of me, like it was no big deal and then disappeared into the park and I was like "What the fuck just happened?"), squirrels and hares (those are really fucking big, holy cow). I'm also positive that there are wild boars in the nature reserve because some of the meadows have been basically plowed through (pro tip when encountering a wild boar, even in the middle of the city: do not engage. Get the hell out of Dodge, because holy cow, those things can be terrifying, especially in spring when they have piglets. And yes, that's a thing we have to know here. Because we accidently might encounter one, especially in the western outer parts of the city.).
Berlin is actually so full of wild animals that we have an official department for wild animals in the city administration, which doesn't just take care of pests like rats and doves but also of foxes, wild boars, racoons, beavers (there's a active and stable population in Schlosspark Charlottenburg), invasive American freshwater crayfish, weasels... We also have several so called Stadtjäger (literally: municipal hunters) who are volunteers working with the administration to keep the wild boar population under control. There is also an official "OH MY GOD THERE'S A BAT IN MY BEDROOM!" hotline operated by NABU (one of the biggest German nature conservation associations) because apparently, bats flying into people's apartments and considering them their new lair is a regular thing here (incidentally, that also happened to us one year. Fun times for my sister. And the bat). We also have an annual "Lange Nacht der Stadtnatur" (Long Night of Urban Nature) where Berliners can learn about urban wildlife from multiple organisations. This city is fucking weird.
So yeah, lots of nature here, and I learned about lots of that only a few years ago. What's going on in your living place? Do you live in the city or in the country? How's biodiversity at your place? Ever had any encounters with wild life? Tell me, I wanna here!
Anyway, usually, when I tell people that I'm from Marzahn, they apparently immediately jump to this (which, BTW, isn't Marzahn at all, it's Gropiusstadt, which is in West Berlin):
even though in truth it looks like this:
And out here, right at the border to Brandenburg (the German federal state that surrounds Berlin, which is mostly agriculture with lots of fields - mostly wheat and other grains, rape (the one you make canola oil from) and fruit and veg (especially cherries, asparagus, turnips, potatoes and strawberries but really all kinds) - lifestock, and a few smaller cities and villages dotted in between. It's quite nice, actually. So maybe, if you think about coming to Germany, skip Bavaria or at least put in some time for the north-eastern states like Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, too, huh?), it's even greener than in those pictures.
Right now, we have a riot of flowering fruit and pseudo-fruit trees here, tons of trees and bushes bursting with green and meadows and lawns growing wildly. I agree that in winter, Marzahn can look a little... drab but honestly, Berlin winters aren't for the faint of heart in general, and I'm pretty sure that not even the big parks like Tiergarten or Grunewald are much of a delight in the heart of winter, not to mention the inner city parts that have a lot less green to begin with. In general, though, Berlin is a surprisingly green big city, but if you want more than just a couple trees dotted along a street and a small backyard with bushes and a lawn and affordable rents (Berlin is still a city of renters, despite all attempts to change that), you actually should consider doing the unthinkable und unfashionable and consider looking for a place in Marzahn or Hellersdorf (even though Hellersdorf is weird). Just take it from me, do not move to anywhere inside the S-Bahn ring, no matter how much everyone tells you that it's the only place to live. In fact, most Berliners live outside the S-bahn ring, and anyone telling you you must live in the inner city is an idiot who has probably never even set foot inside this city.
Anyway. What I wanted to say: when I tell people where I live, they usually seem to think that it's all concrete and nothing else. In truth, nature here is surprisingly diverse. I'm not good with plants but I know animals. Just consider the birds (birbs, really <3) who regularly visit us on our balcony: magpies, starlings, blackbirds, sparrows and tits, multiple times a day (I'm pretty sure one of them keeps eating my sweet cicely. Bad birb. BAD birb!). We also have at least one nest of wild bees on the balcony, and I'm pretty sure it's been there for a couple years now (wild bees are about the most peaceful insects I have ever encountered. All they want is drink away at the plants we have on the balcony and buzz around a little and be left in peace. If you encounter a nest of wild bees on your property, please leave them the hell alone. They usually don't hurt you, and they're really important for pollination. And if you have to remove them, do not kill them. Find a local conservation society or organisation for wildlife protection and ask them to do it for you (in Germany, just call your local NABU office, they usually have people who can do this professionally without hurting you or the bees). Bees. Bees are our friends!). I love to watch those little cuties buzz in and out, pollinating my strawberries and being very busy and cute!
Also, other animals I can either hear or have encountered, either when out running or coming home late at night: THE LOUDEST NIGHTINGALE EVER TO EXIST (he's back, by the way. He comes to the neighborhood every damn year and sings his little heart out and how can such a small bird be so fucking loud? God, I hope he finds a female soon. Nerd.), jaybirds (I didn't even know you could actually see them in the wild, until I started running through the nature reserve that's five minutes away from here. They were there. In droves. It made me ridiculously happy), foxes (Berlin is full of foxes. Once I saw one cross this really, really busy road, which is smack dab in the middle of the city, cutting one of the biggest inner city forest areas I know in half, and it like stood there, looked left, looked right, crossed in a relaxed jog, waited in the middle, crossed the second part and came out right in front of me, like it was no big deal and then disappeared into the park and I was like "What the fuck just happened?"), squirrels and hares (those are really fucking big, holy cow). I'm also positive that there are wild boars in the nature reserve because some of the meadows have been basically plowed through (pro tip when encountering a wild boar, even in the middle of the city: do not engage. Get the hell out of Dodge, because holy cow, those things can be terrifying, especially in spring when they have piglets. And yes, that's a thing we have to know here. Because we accidently might encounter one, especially in the western outer parts of the city.).
Berlin is actually so full of wild animals that we have an official department for wild animals in the city administration, which doesn't just take care of pests like rats and doves but also of foxes, wild boars, racoons, beavers (there's a active and stable population in Schlosspark Charlottenburg), invasive American freshwater crayfish, weasels... We also have several so called Stadtjäger (literally: municipal hunters) who are volunteers working with the administration to keep the wild boar population under control. There is also an official "OH MY GOD THERE'S A BAT IN MY BEDROOM!" hotline operated by NABU (one of the biggest German nature conservation associations) because apparently, bats flying into people's apartments and considering them their new lair is a regular thing here (incidentally, that also happened to us one year. Fun times for my sister. And the bat). We also have an annual "Lange Nacht der Stadtnatur" (Long Night of Urban Nature) where Berliners can learn about urban wildlife from multiple organisations. This city is fucking weird.
So yeah, lots of nature here, and I learned about lots of that only a few years ago. What's going on in your living place? Do you live in the city or in the country? How's biodiversity at your place? Ever had any encounters with wild life? Tell me, I wanna here!