Saturday 20 October 2012.
To the Ackerdijkse plassen nature reserve, not far from Delft town in the Netherlands.
A kestrel couple hovering in the air.
Another bird flies past. It is a bittern! The warden says they hear this rare bird, good at hiding itself, in the reserve; but they hardly ever see it. This is a special morning, as the bittern flies past again twice.
Other bittern photos are here.
In leafless trees, relatives of the bittern: great egrets.
An Egyptian goose flying.
More fungi: Armillaria gallica.
Many soft rushes in this marshy environment.
Great cormorant flying.
A greenfinch on a tree.
Sulphur tuft fungi.
A jay calls.
A wren sings.
Common hornbeam and beech trees next to each other. Most tress in the reserve are only a few decades old. Before that, it was farmland. However, the farmer wanted to stop farming and transferred the land to BirdLife in the Netherlands. They later transferred it to conservation organization Natuurmonumenten.
Short-toed treecreeper sound.
On wood: jelly ear and Xylaria polymorpha fungi.
A buzzard flying. Then, a sparrowhawk.
At the Boschplas lake hide: over ten wigeons and two tufted ducks swimming.
Still one blackberry flower. Also, still a ragged robin flower.
On a fallen birch tree, birch polypore fungus.
We go back to the central building, formerly the farm; originally built in 1666.
Four stock doves flying.
At the next hide, many ducks. Mallard and gadwall ducks. Common pochards.
Wigeons. Great crested grebe. Canada goose.
A great cormorant on a tree.
A great egret flying.
Finally, on a tree stump near the farm: Armillaria mellea and turkey tail fungi.
Bittern photo, Naardermeer railway: here.
Related articles
- Favourite fungi of the Netherlands (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
- Snow, Squirrels and Sparrowhawks (wildtimesmedia.wordpress.com)
- Sparrowhawks’ lives, video (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
- App about Naardermeer nature reserve (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
- Funny fungi (digginwivdebb.wordpress.com)
- Favourite mushroom poll (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
- Birds of British brownfields (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
- Country diary: Not all fungi are bad for trees (guardian.co.uk)
- days of fog and fungi (dontconfusethenarrator.wordpress.com)
- Fungi equally as effective as pesticides at controlling crop pest (plantwise.org)
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
What a nice place it is! Love it!
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Yes, the reserve during the recent decades has become more varied, with pieces of woodland growing on some parts of what used to be all pasture. Water has become cleaner etc.
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Very beautiful pictures!
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Thank you!
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🙂
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