Ride a White Swan

Arrived in Riga, Latvia this afternoon for a week of birding, talks and interviews in a country that I know absolutely nothing about bar the fact that it is the hen party/stag night capital of Europe.

Was taken around a reserve near the coast seeing and hearing such delights as Bittern, Savi’s Warbler, Thrush Nightingale, Wood Warbler, Penduline Tit and gorgeous Blue-headed Wagtails. In the evening we arrived at a river where Ruslans Matrozis, one of my hosts, started to throw bread at the swans. I was confused wondering why such a serious ornithologist would be feeding the swans like a regular parkgoer.