The Green Heart of The Netherlands

Everybody knows Gouda for it’s world famous cheese. But since cheese is made from milk that comes from cows that need to eat lots of grass, there must be some green fields in the neighbourhood. And indeed, Gouda is at the centre of what is called The Green Heart of The Netherlands. Close to the rivers Hollandse IJssel and Gouwe as well as near by the Reeuwijkse Plassen there is an abundance of green flatland. Yesterday and today I took my camera out to see what was on offer in terms of wildlife. In this blog I will share the results.

My first stop, yesterday, was a natural reserve called Goudse Hout. This area has many ditches in typical Dutch grass land.

There are various public footpaths available and the reeds alongside the ditches provide shelter for insects and waterfowl.

Walking at the end of the afternoon, you can here many birds performing there evensong, but with all the trees now fully green, there was is no change to see any of them long enough for a decent picture.

It was however with great pleasure that I saw two Small White butterflies (Pieris Rapae) mating. Their courtship was like a ballet in the air. The results are shown below.

 

When crossing one of the ditches by the small bridge, I did see a dragonfly hovering over the water. As always, you cannot automatically see which one it actually is, but I knew I would sort that out at home. Picture first, name later…

It turned out to be a male Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum Cancellatum). The first picture was tsaken while he was resting on a leave, but later he performed it’s aerial dance and I was able to caught him in the act.

This dragonfly occurs nearly all over Europe except northern UK and Scandinavia; to the east, the range extends to Kashmir and Mongolia.

The adult male has a blue abdomen with a black tip and transparent wings, and the female has a yellow (later: brown) body with black bands along the abdomen and transparent wings. Even the immature males look that way. (source: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

Today, while cycling near the lakes of Reewijk, I saw four Barn Swallows (Hirundo Rustica) on a power line. They were not going to fly while I had my camera ready, but as soon as I stowed it away…you get the idea. Still, since it was the first time I took a picture of this versatile flyer, I could not keep it from this blog.

And therefore I will also show the four of them, resting on the lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, a picture of some Greylag Geese (Anser Anser) that had just landed, as the picture on top shows. They look beautiful against the green background of this wonderful area in The Netherlands.

Summer & Butterflies

Today was the first decent day of the Summer with quite some sunshine and higher temperatures. So it was inevitable for me to go walkabout to find some butterflies. And I was not disappointed with a good variety and some of them even posing. As if they knew I would be there with my camera. The Ringlet (Aphantopus Hyperantus) in the top picture was the first of the season. I found one other picture in my archives of almost one year ago. This afternoon I made two more pictures which I like to share.

I wrote earlier that the Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais Urticae) is declining. The website of Gardener’s World describes this as follows:

The arrival of a new parasitoid fly, Sturmia Bella, in 1998 has been mooted as part of the butterfly’s downturn. Within the same decade of the butterfly’s decline, the fly (which specialises in parasitizing Small Tortoiseshell, Comma and Peacock butterflies) spread across the whole of England. It doesn’t appear to be quite that straightforward, though. Small tortoiseshell numbers went down in places where the parasitoid is currently unknown, and also in Europe where the fly is not a ‘new’ threat to the butterfly. Anyway, I was very happy to see two of these butterflies actually mating this afternoon. Keep up the good work and maybe the decline can be stopped.

 

Talking about reproduction: these two Gatekeepers (Pyronia Tithonus) on the right are almost certainly ready to mate as well. The male is higher than the female, but I am sure they will sort something out. They were actually the first Gatekeepers this season but there were a lot of them chasing each other. All very promising.

I did see a Meadow Brown (Maniola Jurtina) as well, but it was not possible to take a decent picture. So I have to do with one from my archive as shown on the left. I took this one whilst being stung by the Ivy and that happened again several times this afternoon. All in the name of art…

To finish this blog I will share a picture of a Five-spot Burnet (Zygaena Trifolii) and a Small Skipper (Thymelicus Flavus) respectively. The first one is actually a moth, but can be seen during daytime. The last one is just a beautiful little butterfly.

Finally the Summer has begun and I can’t wait to take more pictures of butterflies…and show them on my blog.

 

 

 

The Red-crested Pochard, a crown of a duck

 

Some ducks are just made up. Or so it seems. The Red-crested Pochard (Netta Rufina) is such duck. Because whilst it is a living and breathing bird, I always think of the poor bloke that has to inflate and paint these ducks every day to make them look nice. Their distinctive red bill is the feature that makes them stand out, but the rest of the colouring is not bad either.

The duck stems original from Asia and thrives very well in moderate climates, as long as there are lakes with enough vegetation on the bottom of it. Red-crested Pochards build a nest by the lakeside among vegetation and lay 8-12 pale green eggs. The birds' status in the British Isles is much confused because there have been many escapes and deliberate releases over the years, as well as natural visitors from the continent. However, it is most likely that they are escapees that are now breeding wild and have built up a successful feral population. (Source: Wikipedia)

So far I have only seen them in parks (with water) and not in the actual wild. Be it as it may, the duck is worth writing an entire blog about, even if the female duck is less colourful.

 

 

I have come across many ducks since I started taking pictures of nature, but this duck is always a pleasant surprise. Which reminds me of an event I witnessed with a mother with ducklings and an envious neighbour, in St. James’s Park. The four pictures below show what happened when the mother (left) was challenged by the other female (right).

 

There is not much more that can be said about this beautiful but funny duck. The Dutch name is Krooneend which means “crown duck”. And therefore I will share some crown jewels I took over the course of the last years.

 

 

My home garden, a colourful venue

 

It is always with great joy, that I go walkabout and take some pictures of everything that is beautiful in nature. This whole weblog is hopefully prove that I have been able, so far, to succeed in that quest. But browsing through my archive I realised that there is quite some beauty in my own garden as well. And even this year only, whilst the nice weather is still to arrive, there have been some interesting and unforgettable moments that I would like to share with you.

Whether it is the Eurasian Jay that I was finally able to take a picture of, or the unexpected brown frog that almost jumped away before I could fetch my camera, or the incidental butterfly, there is indeed still some life in my garden. But why stop there, when there are beautiful colours to be immortalised through the lens?

I will start off with the freshly planted Osteospermum Passion Mix. As little as they are, the colours and the structure are mesmerizing. Especially their very dark purple harts, make this flower a delight to watch.

 

But since I am on a roll to show off my garden colours, how about my roses? As always, my very large yellow rose blooms first and the amount of rosebuds already counted, promises a sea of colour again this year.

I got an Old Port rose as a present. I had to dig a big hole to plant the rose, but I had to negotiate a lot of old roots. The result is hopefully worth the effort; The rose hasn’t bloomed just yet, but the bud looks very promising. Actually, I can’t wait.

 

So far, I have showed red, white and yellow..and a little bit of dark purple. Let’s show some more purple colours. What about this simple Chive (left), that is actually a herb to put in your food. But the flower is surprisingly beautiful. I found this between some weed that I had to clear.

But the very colourful Macrophylla (right) is also a must in your garden. Anyway it is in mine. Again, just recently received as a present but I am very pleased with it. The petals have this typically combination of groups of five.

 

And then there is the very radiant Dahlia (left again).

In this case we have an orange variant, but they come in many colours.

To finish this blog, I will show my visitors. they are the Eurasian Jay (Garullus Glandarius), The Comma Butterfly (Polygonia C-Album) and a simple brown frog.

Whilst there is so much to be seen in nature, it is always good to start close to home, in your own garden. I just did that and I hope the result inspires you to look for beauty at home.

 

 

 

 

Nectar required

 

We all know that honey attracts more bees than vinegar. But that is only because they just don’t like vinegar and it is nowhere to be found in flowers anyway. It is however also true that there are less and less patches to be found in cities and villages with bee-friendly flowers (and bee-friendly automatically means butterfly-friendly as well).

The ‘RHS Perfect for Pollinators’ label was developed in 2011 when writer and broadcaster Sarah Raven approached the charity with the idea of flagging up to gardeners plants most suitable for pollinators. As the Royal Horticultural Society says on the website : “…Bees visit flowers to collect nectar and pollen, which they use as food for themselves and the larvae in their hives or nests. By moving from flower to flower, they are important pollinators of many garden and wild flowers. Insect pollination is essential for the cropping of most fruits and some vegetables…”

To explain things further, you could read Gail Rajgor’s blog on this subject or the article in the Daily Telegraph from July 2012.

And please do, but you could also, for the moment, stay on this blog and look at the pictures I took of bees, bumblebees and butterflies drinking nectar. What more encouragement do we need to make sure that these insects can keep on finding and drinking nectar…and pollinate our plants at the same time.

This Large Earth Bumblebee (Bombus Terrestris) was caught trying to get the last nectar out of a purple Azalea at Kew Gardens. But it shows exactly what the idea is: you get the lust but you carry the dust…

The first bumblebees to be seen in spring are the queens – the queen is the only bumblebee to hibernate through the winter. The queen is much bigger than the workers, which appear later.

As soon as the queen has found some nectar, to replenish her energy reserves, she starts looking for a suitable site to build her nest.The nest site is usually underground; an abandoned mouse burrow is often used. Inside, the queen first builds a nectar pot, which will sustain her during bad weather. She also begins to build up a pollen larder, which will feed her brood. ( source: Wikipedea)

Please look further below at my pictures of a Carder Bee (Bombus Pascuorum), a Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa Atalanta), a simple honeybee (Apis Mellifera) and a Small Skipper (Thymelicus Sylvestris) respectively. And look for the RHS logo next time you buy your flowers and plants. Thank you!

 

 

 

 

The simple but beautiful Gadwall, an update

The first blog that I wrote in this series was about the Gadwall (Anas Strepera). This very simple duck, that is called Krakeend in Dutch, is worthwhile showing again, since I have been taking pictures of it ever since. Therefore I present you, again, the “unknown duck”.

The Gadwall is a bird of open wetlands, such as prairie or steppe lakes, wet grassland or marshes with dense fringing vegetation, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food with head submerged. It nests on the ground, often some distance from water. It is not as gregarious as some dabbling ducks outside the breeding season and tends to form only small flocks. This is a fairly quiet species; the male has a hoarse whistling call, and the female has a Mallard-like quack. The young birds are fed insects at first; adults also eat some molluscs and insects during the nesting season. The Gadwall is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. (source: Wikipedea)

The male Gadwalls are predominantly grey with a distinctive black horizontal stripe through their eyes. The female Gadwalls look much like the very common Mallard Duck, but the bill is bright orange. Both sexes have a withe feather on their both sides.

They can be seen all year around in most of the places where you would see “normal” Mallard Ducks or Mute Swans.

I came across some very flexible Gadwalls, who seem to be swimming very calmly or grooming very fiercely.

Please enjoy this beautiful and yet very simple duck in the pictures below.