Bittern, avocet chick, butterflies

To all people reading this blog especially for the series on the birds and other wildlife of the Arctic Svalbard archipelago: don’t despair. It will continue as soon as many photos will be sorted out!

Meanwhile, about another island, smaller than Spitsbergen, and not as cold: Tiengemeten in the Netherlands.

This video is about Tiengemeten island.

Saturday 16 June 2013.

Near the ferry to the island, a great crested grebe swims.

Swifts fly overhead.

On the bank of Tiengemeten, three little egrets clean their feathers.

On the ferry, it had rained, like last time I was on the island. However, the rest of the day, the weather is sunny, with much wind.

Barn swallows nest in the visitors’ centre.

Great tit sounds.

In a reed bed, a reed warbler song.

Tufted ducks. And common pochards.

Avocets on a bank.

A great cormorant, and barnacle geese flying.

Redshanks.

The first butterfly of today: a common blue.

A skylark sings.

A northern lapwing.

Our second butterfly: a small heath.

A common tern flying.

On an islet in the lake, a small avocet chick walking.

A reed bunting sings.

Shelducks swim.

A marsh harrier.

Then, our third butterfly … really, a moth: a cinnabar moth.

Then, something special. A bittern, flying against the wind, so: slowly, to the left.

Hear a bittern call here.

Garden tiger moth caterpillars cross the footpath.

A spoonbill flying.

A big group of gadwall ducks resting.

Grey lag geese.

Near the hide, a kestrel standing almost still in the air, despite the wind.

Four barnacle geese couples swimming together, with two goslings per couple each.

Two black-tailed godwits flying and calling.

Egyptian geese standing on a sandbank.

A flock of over a hundred starlings.

Dear Kitty. Some blog