PeterHG's eighth BY

[Kitsafari]

Can you send over the stonechat here please? plenty of mossies for it to feed on. and then i have a chance to practise my BIF, but it'll never ever pose for me in flight as it does for you. 

[Tdgraves]

Lovely stonechat, but I prefer the linnet!

[PeterHG]

43 minutes ago, pedro maia said:

It allways amazes me how the damn birds seem to freeze in the air for your pictures.

I can't help it. Many friends of mine also freeze when they see me...

[Galana]

Amazing Epic in flight shots.

[Peter Connan]

And wow again...

[xelas]

True mastership, Peter! Where and when can I apply for a crash course in BIF?

[PeterHG]

2 hours ago, xelas said:

Where and when can I apply for a crash course in BIF?

Just look at Zvezda's swallows. She'll be happy to share her approach with you. Perhaps not her camera, though.....

On a more serious note: I do believe the camera plays a very important part in this. Perhaps not all, I realize that, but the focus acquisition of the OM-1 we now both own, has opened up more opportunities and increased the success rate.

[PeterHG]

Thanks all for the kind comments!

 

I made short trip to the Flevoland area in the beginning of April. There are a few public hides there, which can be productive but also very busy. On this particular morning there were only a few people present. I heard a Water rail somewhere, but it didn't show. A Moorhen took pity on me and decided to give a perfect imitation of the Rail, hiding in the reeds and making itself hard to spot. It deserved a photo.

 

153 / NL 43 Common Moorhen. Flevoland, April.

 

After a few minutes, though the real thing showed up. No skulking or hiding this time...

154 / NL 44. Water Rail. Flevoland, April.

 

155 / NL 45. Great Crested Grebe. Flevoland, April. Quite common in the area, but always a joy to see them.

 

A visit to another wetland area some days later, yielded some nice additions.

146 / NL 46. Bearded Reedling. Zevenhoven, April. Absolutely wonderful birds to see. None last year, but this was a great encounter.

 

[Soukous]

gorgeous Peter

[Zim Girl]

I am always blown away by your BIF pictures, I particularly liked the Linnets.

[xelas]

A Rail, a Grebe couple and a Bearded Reedling, all in one post .. you treat us well, Peter.

[michael-ibk]

Very cool species in this batch! 

[BRACQUENE]

Splendid pictures and birds Peter !!  I am looking hard to find that Bearded Reedling and the Water Rail as they are both present in Kalkense Meersen - Donkmeer : would be nice for the century 

[Galana]

As well as the excellent BIF shots your Olympus does a great job with the portraits too. Even the Moorhen is startlingly good.

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Soukous @Zim Girl @xelas @michael-ibk @BRACQUENE @Galana! Spring is such a wonderful time to wander around and find all those returning birds again. It helps when a little sunshine is added to the mix.

 

From the same wetland area

 

157 / NL 47. Bluethroat. Zevenhoven, April. Definitely another favourite from this area and a pretty reliable spot to find them.

 

158 / NL 48. Tufted Duck. Zevenhoven. April. I remember in my younger days (well, I hardly remember, to be honest...) You could only see these little ducks in winter, but now they can be found in any wetland area or even ponds in towns and villages in large numbers. Here both the male and the female. In flight, I know....;)

 

159 / NL 49. Savi's Warbler. Zevenhoven, April. We could here its monotonous, characteristic song regularly, but seeing and photographing one was another matter. It was quite windy and they mostly stayed low and well out of sight. Finally we spotted one, though. I had to manually focus this one, as the waving reed stems confused the autofocus. Still happy to have managed a shot. And it does give a good impression, I think, of how we usually see the warbler.

 

160 / NL 50. Common Shelduck. Zevenhoven, April.

 

 

 

[BRACQUENE]

It is indeed a fantastic time to find all those birds Peter ; not easy to take pictures I agree as I did find out myself : I love your Bluethroat and the Savi’s , not so common in Belgium I think but I will have a look into that !

[Galana]

You are making Netherlands very tempting for a short Spring break. Bluethroats, Beardies and Rails all in one spot.

[BRACQUENE]

Savi’s Warbler is only supposed to be present in eight nature reserves in Belgium compared to over a hundred in the Netherlands, all not close to Brussels but one of them is the Blankaart where I was a few weeks ago so my return is imminent 

[PeterHG]

36 minutes ago, Galana said:

You are making Netherlands very tempting for a short Spring break

Well that might be a thought! No guarantees for Reedling and Rail, but Bluethroat, Savi’s warbler and on most occasions also Mediterranean Gull are pretty certain and there is another wetland area where Black Tern and Purple Heron are common ( a week or so from now) and the last few years there were even a few nests of White-winged Tern……

[pedro maia]

Lovely bluethroat and ducks in flight.

[Soukous]

17 hours ago, PeterHG said:

18 hours ago, Galana said:

You are making Netherlands very tempting for a short Spring break

Well that might be a thought!

 

I'm in

[Galana]

2 hours ago, Soukous said:

I'm in

I have vowed not to make plans for 2024 but by then my access to long haul maybe more restrictive and Lady G loves the Hull - Rotterdam boats. (and I like them new fangled trains as well as EZYJet) so it sounds like a plan.

What we would need is somebody local to act as Guide.

[PeterHG]

44 minutes ago, Galana said:

What we would need is somebody local to act as Guide.

 I’d be more than happy to show you around some worthwhile sites if we’re here at the time (We usually are in spring, though we do occasionally opt for a break ourselves.)

[Galana]

I would have added more likes above if I could.

[PeterHG]

Thank you @BRACQUENE @Galana @pedro maia @Soukous

 

Back to the 'local' Arkemheen area.

 

161 / NL 51. Mallard. Arkemheen, April. Okay, that one is counted..;)

 

162 / NL 52. Long-tailed Tit. Arkemheen, April. A rather unusual place for them, but they seemed to be busy building a nest in some blackberry bushes along the dyke. I didn't get one last year, so I was happy with this opportunity.

 

163 / NL 53. Little Owl. Arkemheen, April. Present again at the same barn. Even when they were putting solar panels on the roof of the barn, it returned as soon as the work was done.

 

164 / NL 54. Northern Shoveler. Arkemheen, April. A beautiful duck and fortunately quite common in the area.

 

165 / NL 55. Northern Lapwing. Arkemheen, April. Very common.

 

166 / NL 56. Common Starling. Arkemheen, April. Still present in fairly large numbers, but overall numbers are declining. We used to get them in our garden, but I haven't seen them here for quite a few years.