De Hoge Veluwe, Red-breasted flycatcher and butterflies.

I really wanted to go see the red-breasted flycatcher that is staying somewhere on De Hoge Veluwe, a nature reserve on the high grounds in the middle of the country. That meant I had to take a long drive on the highway, two things I hadn’t done before. So, with some trepidation I took the car and off I went, shortly after rush hour. That trepidation wasn’t necessary. Everything went smoothly and google maps knew exactly where I wanted to go. An hour after I left home I had parked the car and upon opening the door I heard the bird singing. I had it all to my self for a bit, no other birders or photographers, but after about 15 minutes photographer and his wife pulled up and started chasing the bird around the trees, spoiling the fun. Luckily I had phonescoped some nice pics before they arrived and I also shot some video.

 

So, after a quick cuppa I moved on to pastures new. I found out about some nice rare-ish an new-to-me butterflies that had been seen nearby so I decided to give finding them a go, even though it wasn’t particularly sunny or warm. I had a very nice walk on in the woods and heather, the swifts were flying really low, sometimes whooshing past at knee level. I found Silver-spotted skipper (Hesperia comma) 

Heath Fritillary (Melitaea) 

 

Dark green fritillary (Argynnis aglaja), sadly I couldn’t get a picture of that one, it whizzed past twice but I never found it again. 

Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas),

 

Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus)

 

and Silver-studded blue (Plebejus argus),

 

To finish the day I drove on to the Jachthuis St. Hubertus, the hunting lodge built for the very rich people who once owned the park. I find it a bit of a monstrosity, but the Leopard marsh orchids round the moat/pond were nice.

Red-throated Pipits

The month of May always sees some Red-throated Pipits pass through the country, but those are mostly fly-by, only identified by their call. This weekend a couple were found on the ground in a new nature developement area near my home. I didn't have time to go before Wednesday evening. So I made reservations to take the car, and off I went, first to the gym but after that it was straight to het Tienhovens Kanaal, on the border between Utrecht and Noord-Holland to twitch them. I did get to see them, but only briefly, with no chance of usefull pictures sadly.

My bins on the dash, looking at the bins at the viewpoint.

Drivers license! Also, attempt at blog revival

Let's try to revive this blog shall we?

Since I passed my driving test on the 1st of May 2018 I’ve been using the local Greenwheels car to do all kinds of fun things. Since the 4th of May, the day I actually got my license, I’ve racked up a few kilometres to do some quick twitches, among other things. My first ride alone was on the very early morning of May 5th, to do a dawn-chorus boat trip for Het Utrechts Landschap, a good time in my opinion, no one to bother me and no one can feel bothered by me.

Sunrise over de Kromme Rijn

After the boat trip I went to the garden centre and bought a trunk full of plants for my balcony.

a trunkload of balcony-dressing

FootIt 2014, the write-up

So, january 2014 has come to an end, and with that so also has the FootIt challenge... How did I fare this year? I started off wasting January 1st on twitching both Hawk- and Pypmy owl for the yearlist, but on January 2nd I got of to a flying start with adding the first 21 species, including Long Eared Owl to the list. On january 4th I made an other forray, adding 13 new species, making the total 34 for the 1st week. After that work got pretty much in the way of birding, confining free time exculsively to the weekends. Over the course of those weekends I managed to add an other 22 species, but nothing spectacular. The more fun things were seen on moments I was under way to or from work on my bicycle. In that way I saw, Sparrowhawk, Great Egret, Common Teal, which were strangely absent from the lake at the beginning of the month, both Redpoll and Lesser Redpoll, Grey Wagtail and Green Woodpecker. Had I been on foot at those times I would have made my target of 61. Now I didd't get past 54...

Foot It 2014 challenge is on!

Dit wordt mijn aktieradius. Heb een doel van 51 soorten opgegeven. Het doel van vorig jaar was nog al ambitieus, dat heb ik dus maar wat bijgesteld....

Sperweruil in de herhaling

Ik had 'm natuurlijk zondagavond al gezien, maar het bleef kriebelen, ik wilde 'm ook nog graag bij daglicht zien en eventueel ook fotograferen. Dus dinsdagmiddag, nadat de vogel weer gemeld was, een paar uur vrij genomen en wederom naar Zwolle afgereisd. Daar werd ik niet teleurgesteld. Er waren weer veel vogelaars en fotografen aanwezig en de uil zat lekker dichtbij, zich niets aan te trekken van al die drukte onder hem. Hier dus een paar foto's

Aan aandacht geen gebrek

 

Op je gemakkie in je boom. Mooi hoor!

Die ogen!

Geen kouwe voeten, zo met je mofje eroverheen...

Nogmaals... Die ogen. Dwars door je ziel.

...

Kan je ooit uitgekeken raken op zo'n fraai beest... Ik niet. Maar toch na 1,5 uur vergapen weer op huis aan. In de trein lees ik de melding van een Laplanduil in Ede. Enig speurwerk wijst uit dat dit om een ontsnapte kooivogel gaat. Die laten we dus maar links liggen

Sperweruil, wat een mooi beest!

Zondagavond 24 november kwam om 8 uur de melding dat er in Zwolle een Sperweruil zou zitten. Ik heb me - in tegenstelling tot vele andere keren - geen moment bedacht en ben onmiddelijk in de trein gesprongen. In de trein trof ik een andere vogelaar, die weliswaar gewoon in de trein op weg naar huis zat, maar ter plekke besloot mee te reizen tot Zwolle. In Zwolle aangekomen gauw een OV Fiets gehaald en om 21:50 stonden we in het romantische schijnsel van de verlichting van het BP tankstation aan de IJsselallee oog in oog met een prachtige Sperweruil. Wat een beest, en wat een twitch. Het personeel van dat tankstation zal niet gesnapt hebben wat ze overkwam. Meer dan 30 auto's stonden kris kras neergesmeten, want geparkeerd kon je het niet noemen. Het was een gezellige boel en zelfs de NOS was er om een reportage te maken.

Ook de nachtwaker van de NS kwam poolshoogte nemen.

Tevreden, maar eigenlijk nog niet voldaan zat ik om 10 voor 11 in de trein naar huis.