Weekend Wonderfulness.

A while ago, we got surprised by an offer to participate in an excursion organised by the BUND (which is a nature protection organisation) - to go see some very special, protected forests such as the Hohe Schrecke (page all German) and the Hainichenforst, and some wild cats in Hütscheroda (English/German page, and pics).

We decided to go - and we had an amazingly wonderful weekend, with lots of really uplifting information. There was a bunch of success stories about smaller and larger things that are good for the region around the protected areas, and of course the protected areas themselves. There was also a bonus fruit juice tasting from a local fruit juicery, bonus info on how to prune cherry trees (which was very timely, and very helpful, for the sour cherry bush tree in our garden), and lots of wonderful forests and meadows and birds and bugs.

Here's some forest for you:





There were also beautiful meadows in the open land between fields and the forested areas, and I was utterly delighted to see several of these butterflies - it has been years since I last saw any of them:



Their German name is, literally, "chess board butterfly".

I also loved this small but bright little flower:

[caption id="attachment_4744" align="alignnone" width="640"] Kardinalsnelke


And here's one of the many insects that live in the forest:



I have no clue what this is, but I think it's pretty.