Roland writes:
We have visitors!
The morning of the 29th we had a number of visitors from the field team, who had made their way by land and air from the field base in Meinopylgano, Egor, Simon, Gerret and Nikolai, made for some welcome company and it was interesting to be able to talk with them about the wild ecology of the spoon-billed sandpipers.
Nikolai had to leave early and Simon who was very tired stayed back at the hotel, Gerret and Igor came round for dinner. The night before, we had been given huge and beautifully fresh salmon by the commander of what had remained of the military base. Like a fool I had decided to make fish and chips Russian style for everyone, not realising that the whole meal would take four hours from start to finish on the aging stove in the apartment! Everyone seem to really enjoy the fish and chips, although this could have been due to extreme hunger of having to wait until eleven o’clock at night, before being able to eat!
