Spring Custom

Each year, in early March comes Martinitza, the welcoming of ‘Mother March’, a heralding of spring custom.

We don’t get to see that but we do see the results. People wear woollen white and red intertwined ‘strings’ around their wrists until they see the first storks, at which time the bracelets are untied and placed onto the tree branches.

As we arrived at the airport this year we were told “The storks are here!”

Storks are very impressive when flying. They glide in like great silent missiles and one wonders how they will land on comparatively small nests. But they do. Take off is probably more impressive

Here are our local storks. Only a pair at present but we will see young later. Last year it was four. The nest gets a bit crowded but there is never any discord.

But speaking of discord, below, but within the same nest, as lodgers, the storks have sparrows which make an awful noise continuously with their supposed arguments. It is a surprise that the storks tolerate the intrusion.