Spring!

Days are getting longer and the sun feels warm again, spring is coming! I have not been birding a lot but did see a Barn Owl in my barn. Even more surprising was a Bittern that flew over the garden last week! I had never heard the barking flight-call before but it is very typical. Today Song Thrush claimed my garden again, there were 2 singing together in what seemed a song battle. Maybe that is why he ignored me, never saw them this tame (outside Helgoland that is:-)

in the plum tree, only few meters distance

these birds produce a lot of sound!

ambitious branch collecting

more realistic sized branch:-)

Meanwhile in the front garden... I collected some 7m3 of firewood last week, including some really big trunks. halfway cutting and splitting now.

And a picture from a boat trip on IJsselmeer last weekend; bird island the Kreupel. The birding trip was organised by Fogol and included several talks and pitches about nature restoration around IJsselmeer, and I was invited to present the FishMigrationRiver. Bird island the Kreupel has been constructed some 10 years ago and is a real bird-magnet. It is situated several kilometers from the coast so only visible by boat. We saw huge numbers of Scaup and several other species of duck. The Velvet Scooter was the bird of the day