These are native to (or common in) Poland with colonies in the Wisła and Odra. The szczeżuja (Eng: duck mussel). Apparently not very tasty, but the English name suggests that ducks like them.
Once, at a scouting camp, in conditions close to survival course, we tried to roast them in the campfire but they turned out as tough as a shoe sole. Poor mussels! I still can`t forget their horrible plight. :(:(
Here's the very big kind (up to 20 cm long), szczerżuja wielka (Eng: swan mussels). They're very protected in the UK, and are protected in Poland under international treaties. Apparently they were common here until the late 20th century but now are vanishingly rare.
Someone once told me that they started to disappear after Chernobyl, however I don't know how accurate that is.
Spider called bagnik przybrzeżny - shore swamper or in proper English - raft spider - lives close to water . It preys even on tadpoles and small frogs.
The first specimens of American blue crab appeared in Polish sea. Amazing! I love all seafood and those crabs are eaten by millions of tons in US and Mexico.
These are native to (or common in) Poland with colonies in the Wisła and Odra. The szczeżuja (Eng: duck mussel).
We found it once in a river near my grandma's village when I was a kid or a teen. We simply called it "małż". Btw, some women call their husbands in such a humorous way, because in Polish one of the words for a husband is "małżonek" :)
The don't have brains either. maybe they should start posting here ;-)
The man attacked by the bear is a German activist who "tried to prove that the animal's lair was abandoned due to forest clearing." "A concerned bear emerged and started chasing an activist trying to prevent logging in the Bieszczady Mountains," we read.
The activist and his companion expected the lair to be empty. But the animal was there. While running away, the man allegedly tripped and was injured by the bear.
The event was recorded by a camera trap. The photos were posted on social media by the spokesman of the State Forests, Michał Gzowski, who called the event "irony of fate".
The first migrations of mergansers towards the Vistula River have begun in Warsaw. On Sunday, a mother and a dozen or so babies crossed the busy Czerniakowska Street. Earlier, the city guard, with the support of volunteers, stopped traffic on the route. Warsaw services appeal to residents to be careful.
I don't know what mergansers are and have never seen or heard that word however this afternoons was walking in Saxon Gardens and saw a giant hedgehog walking about. He or she was cute.