This video shows a harbour porpoise in Grevelingen lake in the Netherlands, swimming along a sailing boat.
The video is by A. Kamperman.
This video from Zeeland province in the Netherlands shows a male shorthorn sculpin, taking care off the eggs.
This video, recorded in Norway, says about itself:
White [or: Yellow] billed Diver Gavia adamsii
In the first part of the video, second-calendar year bird, Ekkeroy, with a resting Great northern diver and then adult in full breeding plumage, Vadso, Varanger fjord, Arctic Norway June 2008. One of our target species, far easier than expected with at least 5 birds seen, the first one being the nice adult in breeding suit!!
Dutch game wardens in Zeeland province report on their blog about a rare bird.
Recently, in the Grevelingen lake, bird counters saw a yellow-billed loon.
This species is seen more often in Siberia, Canada or Alaska, where it nests, than in the Netherlands. The last yellow-billed-loon in the Netherlands was in 2010. Probably, the bird will stay some time in the Grevelingen lake.
The loon attracted many birders: here.
See also here.
Translated from Ecomare museum on Texel island in the Netherlands:
Sunfish on Ameland beach – 01/03/13
A huge ocean sunfish 1.55 meters long and 1.22 meters high! Hikers found the big fish last Tuesday on the beach of Ameland. It is a remarkable find. It does not happen every year that ocean sunfish are seen along our coast, yet this is the fourth individual in a few weeks’ time. In addition, this one was pretty big. Usually people see smaller specimens. The largest one ever in the Netherlands beached also on Ameland. That was in 1889. That animal was 2.73 meters long.
Several finds
On Texel in December two dead sunfish were found on one day, one on the North Sea beach, the other one along the Wadden Sea. They were two relatively small fish of 60 and 80 centimeter. A few days later a third sunfish washed up on the beach of Domburg in Zeeland. This one was 1.13 meters long.
Yesterday, a squid beached on Ameland as well; photo here.
This video is the short film Double Devotion, by Peter van Rodijnen. It won the main award at the North Sea Film Festival 2012.
The film shows how a small male fish, a shorthorn sculpin, takes care of two nests with eggs in winter in the Grevelingen lake in the Netherlands.
Dutch natural history museum Naturalis reports (translated):
Often, in a 37.5 meters deep well in the Oosterschelde, researchers find remains of animals from the Early Pleistocene, about 1.9 million years ago. On 1 September 2012, for the first time, a fossil of a canine was fished up. This makes it the oldest dog ever found in the Netherlands.
The primeval landscape of the Oosterschelde 1.9 million years ago was a subtropical forest with swamps, rivers and open grazing areas. Mammoths, mastodons, rhinoceros, deer and zebra-like ungulates lived there. This canine is, after the saber-toothed tiger, and the hyena the third carnivore now known from that era.
The fossil dog’s jaw is now on show in Naturalis museum.
Three tough mammals — a huge “bear dog” and two saber-toothed cats — were among Europe’s top predators 9 million years ago, according to a new study: here.
Translated from the marine biologists of Stichting ANEMOON in the Netherlands:
Among Dutch coastal waters, the Oosterschelde is a special place. The diversity of habitats and species is very high, and the area is therefore very popular with scuba divers. During sampling near Yerseke Marco Faasse, marine biologist at the research center eCOAST, found tubeworms which were difficult to recognize. Not surprising, because further investigation revealed that the animal was unknown to science and should be described as a new species. The worm was named Bispira polyomma. Giangrande & Faasse, 2012. … The species has been described for the first time in the scientific journal Aquatic Invasions (Volume 7, online publ.: 08.02.2012).
This is a grey triggerfish video.
Translated from the report by Dutch marine biologists of ANEMOON:
Sunday, September 2, 2012
The grey triggerfish occurs rarely in the Zeeland Delta in the Netherlands. In the summers of 2004-2007 year there were small numbers of these tropically looking fish in the Oosterschelde. Also in the North Sea then with some regularity triggerfish were observed. Then things became very quiet around this species. In recent weeks there are four different reports of the grey triggerfish in the central Oosterschelde waters. So, this means joy for recreational divers, because although ‘grey’ is often seen as boring, this is an especially beautiful fish!
The grey triggerfish (Balistes capriscus) is a high-bodied, laterally flattened ray-finned, species with a thick scaly skin. It may grow to 75 centimeter, nearly six kilogram and 13-years-old.
This video is called Alcyonium digitatum.
From DutchNews.nl:
Dutch coral reappears in Zeeland
Monday 06 August 2012
The Netherlands’ only variety of coral, dead man’s thumb, has reappeared in the Oosterschelde in Zeeland, having appeared to have died out in 2011.
Alcyonium digitatum likes strongly flowing, cold sea water and seemed to have died out in 2010 and early 2011. Scientists said this could be because of the warming of the seas.
However, since mid-2011 the coral has made a come-back and divers report seeing a increasing number of them, say press reports.
The dead man’s thumb is so called because it is white and shaped like a thumb.
See also here.
This video from Britain is called The Return of the Grey Partridge.
Translated from Dutch conservation organization Natuurmonumenten:
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
The partridge is back in the Zeepeduinen near Burgh-Haamstede (Zeeland province). “I think it is at least thirty years ago that one could see partridges in ‘t Zeepe,” said forester Ted Sluijter.
Rare bird
The partridge is a typical farmland bird. Things are not going well for it in the Netherlands. By the disappearance of bits of fallow land and edges of fields with lots of herbs the habitat of the birds has been decreasing.
Special observation
Since last winter the partridges once again are seen regularly in the polder area in Haamstede. “It’s a very special observation,” said forester Ted Sluijter.
The latest scientific data brought together by BirdLife International and the European Bird Census Council show that common farmland birds continue to decline in the EU: 300 million farmland birds have been lost since 1980: here.
