Nuthatch fixes nest entrance, video

This video shows a nuthatch using mud to make the entrance to its nest the right size.

It makes the entrance smaller, so that it itself will still be able to go inside, but bigger unwelcome intruders won’t.

The video was made by Kees van Boekel, in nature reserve De Leemput, Etten-Leur, the Netherlands.

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Stoat on video

There are not only weasels in the Netherlands.

There are also their larger relatives, stoats.

This one was filmed in the Zwartenbergse Polder in Noord-Brabant province, by Kees van Boekel.

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Dutch horse meat scandal update

From Associated Press:

Horse meat in 50,000 tons of recalled ‘beef’?

10:45a.m. EDT April 10, 2013

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch authorities are recalling some 50,000 tons of meat that was sold as beef across Europe and possibly containing horse meat, because the exact source of the meat cannot be established.

The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority said Wednesday around 370 different companies around Europe and 130 more in the Netherlands are affected by the recall because they bought meat from two Dutch trading companies.

The authority says that because the exact source of the meat cannot be traced, “its safety cannot be guaranteed.”

The statement added that Dutch authorities currently have “no concrete indications that there is a risk to public health.”

Dutch authorities began a large-scale investigation into the country’s meat industry in February following revelations across Europe that horse meat was being sold as beef.

See also here. And here. And here and here and the video here about the Willy Selten corporation in Oss, suspects in this case.

The Dutch consumers organisation says that the government gives the businesses which bought Willy Selten’s meat too much time to investigate: here.

Bute found in 22 horses slaughtered for food at UK abattoirs in last two months: here.

Recent meat scandals make the case for food retailers who care about more than profit: here.

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Poetess Henriette Roland Holst died fifty years ago

This is a video from Noordwijk, the Netherlands, where poetess Henriette Roland Holst was born in 1869. The video, from October 2012, shows the start of an exhibition commemorating her.

Translated from Dutch conservation organization Natuurmonumenten, about their nature reserve Oude Buisse Heide:

Sixty years after the death of Henriette Roland Holst, ‘The Netherlands’ greatest poetess’, the Vincent van Gogh House and Natuurmonumenten are organizing in 2012 a special Roland Holst Year.

During walking, cycling and other activities, we will take you to the stories and poems of the special couple Roland Holst. A unique look at the rich cultural history of the area!

The year is almost over now.

But poems of Henriette Roland Holst which I have translated into English are still here and here; and will continue to be there in 2013.

Henriette Roland Holst translated the socialist song, the International, into Dutch.

She fought for women’s rights. She fought against wars, from World War I till the Korean war which raged when she died in 1952.

After Vincent van Gogh died penniless, Henriette’s husband, visual artist Richard Roland Holst, was one of the first promoters of Van Gogh’s art. Richard’s studio is still at the Oude Buisse Heide. Margaret Staal-Kropholler, the first female architect in the Netherlands, designed it in 1918.

When Richard died, Henriette Roland Holst inherited the Oude Buisse Heide. Ar ardent conservationist, her will made Natuurmonumenten the heirs of this nature reserve.

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Good Dutch rare fish news

This video is called Brook Lamprey Spawning April 2011.

Translated from the Dutch water management organisation De Dommel, about saving fish before dredging the river Dommel at the Klotputten sand catchment spot:

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

…

As a precaution, the water, in addition to the exemption rules, was thoroughly inspected for the presence of brook lampreys. During these checks a hundred brook lampreys were captured. These lampreys were transferred a few kilometers south of the Klotputten to a suitable habitat. This capture shows that the brook lamprey population in this part of the Dommel is much larger than we previously thought. During this activity also a large number of individuals of the protected spined loach, some gudgeons and some perches were captured.

Ecological development

Lately, we see a tremendous positive environmental development in the upper Dommel river. For example, last year the very rare green gomphid dragonfly and the common club-tail dragonfly were found. These species, like the brook lamprey, depend on clean water and good morphological processes.

This is a video of brook lampreys sharing a spawning ground with river lampreys, a larger related species. As far as is known, the first ever observation of this in the Netherlands.

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Dutch rare plant discovery

Translated from Staatsbosbeheer in the Netherlands:

Saturday, August 25, 2012

During survey work foresters of the Forestry Department in National Park De Biesbosch have discovered the very rare Northern bedstraw (Galium boreale). In total there are about 50 to 100 plants. Northern bedstraw since 1997 has been no longer observed in the Netherlands. So far as we know the location in the Hengstpolder is the plant’s only habitat in our country.

Dutch extinct mammals to return

This video says about itself:

We have 6 six Siberian Lynx at Big Cat Rescue, all of them were rescued from fur farms. It would take double the amount of lynx we have at the sanctuary just to make 1 fur coat!

Learn more about the fur industry and what you can do to help here.

Music courtesy of Kevin Macleod “Love Song”.

Translated from Omroep Brabant radio in the Netherlands:

Little resistance to returning the Big Five in Brabant

Thursday, June 28, 2012 – 09:30

Author: Mathijs Pennings

DEN BOSCH – The return of five large mammals in the Brabant nature encounters little resistance. Only the reintroduction of the lynx and the wild boar get a few negative responses. According to a survey among a thousand Brabant people done on behalf of the province.

Brabant wants the red deer, lynx, otter, wild boar and European bison back into the Brabant countryside. These animals have disappeared due to human activities.

According to Socialist Party provincial executive member Johan van den Hout the reintroductions are important to keep the Brabant nature attractive and to manage it affordably. The return of the red deer to the Groene Woud reserve encounters the least resistance. On the reintroduction of the lynx and the boar almost 24 percent and 17.5 percent respectively responded negatively. Bringing wild boars to the Leenderbos is controversial in the neighborhood because of feared spread of animal diseases and damage to crops.

Dutch raven comeback

This is a raven video.

Ravens, which had been exterminated in the Netherlands, are slowly coming back now.

Not only in Friesland province in the north, but also in the south.

This year, three young ravens were born and have fledged in the nature reserve De Maashorst (between Uden and Oss) in Noord-Brabant province. That is for the first time in over 90 years.

Chihuahuan Raven Corvus cryptoleucus in the USA: here.

Taiga bean geese in the Netherlands

At the moment, taiga bean geese are wintering in the Netherlands. They are rarer there than some other geese species.

Here are videos, made by Luuk Punt, in Luissel, Noord-Brabant province.