Tharandt Forest - Chestnut Trees and Schmetterlinge (Butterflies)!

This past Saturday, I headed away from the Elbe sandstone "mountains" and the Elbe river, and headed southwest instead, on a 15-min train ride to the small town of Tharandt, on the northeastern corner of the large Tharandter Wald (Tharandt Forest), a large tract of mostly deciduous, but mixed, forests on the slopes of part of the eastern Ore Mountain range (Erzgebirge). The deciduous trees were about 80-90% some kind of chestnut species, with a few birches mixed in. Birds were hard to see mid-day but were quite vocal, often very high up (I have never had such a bad case of "warbler-neck" in my life).

Below are pictures I took of the town's church, literally built on a rock (high above the town), and of medieval fortress ruins nearby.

Here is a list of the birds I did manage to find (or hear at least):

Common Buzzard - 2 adult birds soaring high.

Red Kite - 1 soared overhead, but way up there.
Sparrowhawk - 1 swooped swiftly just over the canopy.
White Wagtails, Black Redstarts - several along the streams and in town.
(Winter) Wren - FOY. Heard singing beautiful long warbling song, unfortunately could not spot him.
Firecrest - Sang forever from deep inside a conifer, alas never showing himself after almost 10 minutes of waiting and neck-straining...the little devil.
Treecreeper - Heard one calling.
Robins
Nuthatches
Willow Warblers - Several singing distinct trill song: Descending and accelerating to a monotonous, highly accelerated trill at the end.
Great Spotted Woodpeckers
Chaffinches - Many, but one pair found with female gathering nesting material, while male seemed to stand guard.
Blue Tits

Admittedly, a bit disappointing bird-wise (no lifers and missed the sought-after species: Black Stork), but then again I did not get out that early and the birding was expected to be quite difficult...
Butterflies on the other hand, where great, and I will definitely want to come back for a butterfly count someday. Here is the summary:

European Peacock - 1
Cabbage White - several
Mourning Cloak - 1 (first in europe)
Map - 1 (Lifer!)
Small Tortoiseshell - 2 (Lifer!)
Orangetip - 1 (beautiful male)
Eastern Baton Blue - 2 (Lifers, found on the path to the church)
One other unidentified Lycaenid species fluttering high up near a tree.
Here is the best picture I could get of the Baton Blue (Scolitantides schiffermuelleri):

Good spring birding and butterflying everyone!