Mewia Łacha Ferry & Forest Trek: A Moose in the Forest
Trip report
Jessicca & Julia | Mewia Łacha Nature Reserve | September 2026 | 8am–4pm
TL;DR
The short version: Eight hours, two ferries, 51 bird species, around 40 Grey Seals, a White-tailed Eagle causing chaos on a sandbank, and a rather frisky bull Moose.
Here for the story? Keep reading.
There are some days when you come home from a birding trip thinking, that was a pretty good day. Then there are days when a rather frisky bull Moose decides to follow you through the forest.
This was definitely the second kind.
Jessicca and Julia are Italian sisters who currently live in Canada. Neither had ever seen a Moose before, which is slightly ridiculous when you think about it. They came to Poland, joined me for a day at Mewia Łacha, and finally ticked Moose off the list. You couldn't make it up!
We met at 8am in Świbno and, initially, the weather wasn't looking particularly promising. There were some fairly threatening clouds visible in the distance, but thankfully, it cleared as we reached the ferry port. We crossed the Vistula over to Mikoszewo, and even the short ferry crossing produced a couple of Great Egrets and a distant flock of around 130 Great Cormorants. A decent start to the day.
Once on the Mikoszewo side, we had one very important job before heading into the forest: we DEETed up. If you've spent any time in the forests around the Vistula in summer, you'll know why. The mosquitoes here can be extremely enthusiastic, so we provide Buzz Off! repellent for our guests to spray on before we head into the woods. After a good coating all round, we were ready to go.
Great spotted woodpecker on tree
Entering the Mewia Łacha reserve, the forest was already busy. The morning chorus included Chaffinches, Crested Tits and Goldcrests, along with plenty of other woodland birds, and there were Great Spotted Woodpeckers absolutely everywhere. Honestly, there were so many of them that I started wondering how there were any dead trees left standing. They were clearly doing their best to remedy that situation.
The woodland atmosphere changed rather abruptly when a female Sparrowhawk swept through the trees after a Chaffinch. She made a serious attempt at taking it but missed, disappearing up through the canopy. The smaller birds weren't taking any chances, though, and the woodland took a moment to settle down before the chorus gradually started up again. We continued through the broadleaf section of the forest, where a lovely Eurasian Nuthatch appeared along with Blue and Great Tits moving through the canopy.
Eventually we reached the riverside path and the habitat opened up. A small group of Dunlin
were feeding at the water's edge and, further along, two Caspian Terns came flying past, scanning the river for fish. Shortly afterwards a female Marsh Harrier appeared, patrolling the reedbeds alongside the water. There were also plenty of female Common Mergansers and Black-headed Gulls around.
As we approached the main causeway, the waders became more interesting. A group of Ruddy Turnstones were particularly entertaining, as they seemed to have absolutely no concern whatsoever about our presence and wandered straight past us. Among them were Bar-tailed Godwits, Red Knots and a Curlew Sandpiper, along with plenty more female Common Mergansers.
There was one thing I couldn't quite work out, though. Where were all the male mergansers? The females were everywhere, strutting around with their rather impressive hazel-coloured hairstyles, while the males seemed to have collectively decided to disappear for the day.
Further out on one of the sandbanks we spotted around 40 Grey Seals hauled out in the sunshine. We then made our way over some exposed tree roots and onto the neighbouring beach, where we had a fantastic view along the long sandbank in the estuary. It was absolutely packed with birds.
We settled down for a picnic, and I had just taken a bite of my Żabka sandwich when I noticed the White-tailed Eagle.
There it was, sitting right out on the sandbank.
The White-tailed Eagle is Poland's national bird and seeing one is always a highlight, but this was particularly good because it was sitting there for everyone to enjoy. It stayed put for around 15 minutes, presumably waiting for an opportunity to grab itself an easy lunch from the gulls and terns all around.
Eventually it took off.
The effect was spectacular. Hundreds of birds exploded from the sandbank as the eagle came over them, with gulls, cormorants and Greylag Geese all getting airborne at once. The eagle made an attempt at taking one of them but wasn't successful and eventually headed away eastwards.
Definitely worth interrupting our lunch for.
After food we continued along the beach to get a closer look at the far side of the sandbank. This produced four Black-bellied Plovers, several Ringed Plovers and a Broad-billed Sandpiper, along with plenty of adult and juvenile Sandwich Terns. There were also a handful of Caspian and Common Terns mixed in amongst them.
Eventually it was time to turn around and head back through the forest towards the ferry. Three Tree Pipits were flitting around the pines and, naturally, there were more Great Spotted Woodpeckers.
We were almost out of the woods when I stopped for a moment.
Something had caught my attention.
Between the trees was a familiar silhouette.
A Moose.
And not a small one.
An adult bull was standing nearby, at what I considered a safe distance, so we watched him for a while. Jessicca and Julia were understandably rather pleased with this development. Their first ever Moose.
Then he started taking an interest in us.
He slowly began walking in our direction.
Now, when I say slowly, I mean slowly. But it's quite surprising just how much ground a Moose can cover while giving the impression that it is barely moving.
We decided it was probably best not to hang around and carefully moved away, continuing along the main path. Unfortunately, we soon reached a crossroads.
And the frisky bull was waiting at the other end.
Having no trees or vegetation between our group and a large wild Moose that was actively following us was, I'll admit, a little unnerving. We kept moving purposefully, without panicking, and kept talking calmly.
Eventually, we reached the main riverside path and, thankfully, the bull lost interest in us.
Then we spotted a female Moose in the distance.
At that point we came to the rather amusing conclusion that perhaps the bull hadn't been particularly interested in us after all. He may simply have been trying to usher us away from the female he was attempting to put the moves on.
Fair enough. We took the hint.
And so ended what had turned into a rather spectacular day at Mewia Łacha.
We had started with a ferry crossing, worked our way through woodland, riverbank and beach, watched Grey Seals basking on a sandbank, seen a White-tailed Eagle flush hundreds of birds into the air, found some excellent waders and terns and, finally, been followed through the forest by a bull Moose.
For Jessicca and Julia, who had never seen a Moose despite living in Canada, I suspect their first encounter with a frisky Polish bull will be the bit they remember for a long time.
We made our way back to Mikoszewo, where we had a well-earned fresh fish dinner near the ferry port before crossing the Vistula once more to Sobieszewo Island. After a very full eight hours in the field, we said our goodbyes and headed home.
Not a bad way to spend a day in northern Poland.
Birds and wildlife recorded
The complete eBird list from the day included [51 species]. Numbers marked with "X" were recorded on the checklist as multiple without an exact count.
Species | Number recorded |
Greylag Goose | X |
Mute Swan | X |
Eurasian Wigeon | 4 |
Mallard | X |
Common Goldeneye | 5 |
Common Merganser | X |
Common Wood-Pigeon | 3 |
Common Swift | X |
Eurasian Coot | X |
Black-bellied Plover | 4 |
Common Ringed Plover | 5 |
Bar-tailed Godwit | 5 |
Common Redshank | 2 |
Spotted Redshank | 0 |
Ruddy Turnstone | 10 |
Red Knot | 5 |
Curlew Sandpiper | 1 |
Dunlin | X |
Broad-billed Sandpiper | 1 |
Common Gull | X |
European Herring Gull | X |
Great Black-backed Gull | 6 |
Little Tern | 3 |
Caspian Tern | 4 |
Common Tern | X |
Sandwich Tern | X |
Great Crested Grebe | 3 |
Great Cormorant | X |
Great Egret | 2 |
Grey Heron | 3 |
Eurasian Sparrowhawk | 1 |
Western Marsh Harrier | 1 |
White-tailed Eagle | 1 |
Common Buzzard | 2 |
Great Spotted Woodpecker | X |
Eurasian Jay | 1 |
Eurasian Magpie | 1 |
Hooded Crow | X |
Crested Tit | 1 |
Marsh Tit | 1 |
Eurasian Blue Tit | X |
Great Tit | X |
Bank Swallow | 2 |
Barn Swallow | X |
Western House-Martin | X |
Goldcrest | X |
Eurasian Nuthatch | 1 |
Eurasian Treecreeper | 1 |
House Sparrow | X |
White Wagtail | X |
Tree Pipit | 3 |
Common Chaffinch | X |
Other wildlife: approximately 40 Grey Seals and 1 adult bull Moose, with a distant female Moose also observed.
About the Mewia Łacha Ferry & Forest Trek
Available from May to September
The Ferry & Forest Trek is one of our longer days out from Gdańsk, combining the forests, beaches and huge sandbanks of Mewia Łacha just across the Vistula estuary.
The ferry crossing from Świbno to Mikoszewo is part of the adventure, and from there we spend the day exploring the reserve on foot, looking for woodland birds, waders, terns, raptors and mammals. Depending on the season, the birding can change dramatically, which is one of the reasons we love coming back.
And, as this particular day demonstrated, you never quite know what else might walk out of the forest.
