This 9 June 2017 video shows a reed warbler nest in the Netherlands where a young cuckoo hatched recently. The nest is on webcam.
In this article, Anne Kwak tells how he in 2016 ringed a young cuckoo in another reed warbler nest, along the Slinge river near Winterswijk in the Netherlands.
This is a May 2014 greenfinch video from Sweden.
After 5 May 2017 came 6 May: our last full day in Winterswijk. Then, we heard greenfinch sound.
A bit further, yellowhammer sound.
Bats flying in the garden during the evening.
The next day, 6 May, we arrived at Winterswijk railway station. Swifts flying and calling, recently returned from Africa.
This is a swift video.
Again, like on the day we had arrived, we boarded the train called after painter Piet Mondriaan.
The last bird we saw in Winterswijk was a northern lapwing.
This video from Latvia is about a golden oriole nest. It shows the young birds, fed by their father.
On the day after 3 May 2017 in Winterswijk, 4 May, we went north from Winterswijk. Near a lake we heard a male golden oriole sing. Probably, he had just returned from Africa, and had survived illegal hunters in Malta and elsewhere on his spring migration.
We arrived at Zwillbrocker Venn nature reserve, on the Dutch-German border.
A curlew calls.
We arrived at the lookout tower near the lake. Thousands of black-headed gulls. A few Mediterranean gulls nest here too, but we could not find them.
Scores of flamingos. Many Chilean flamingos; also greater flamingos and Caribbean flamingos. Mainly offspring of feral birds, they nest here, and winter mainly in Zeeland province in the Netherlands.
How a flamingo balances on one leg: here.
Tufted ducks swimming.
On the other side of the tower, a brimstone butterfly, and a singing tree pipit.
Then, we arrived at a hide. A better view of the black-headed gulls and flamingos.
A male shoveler duck swimming past.
Also, many gadwall ducks.
Near a second hide was a great cormorant nesting colony.
Chilean flamingos in Roegwold nature reserve, Groningen: here.
This blog has mentioned already the fish pass at the old Berenschot water mill near Winterswijk. From 3 May 2017, the day after 2 May in Winterswijk, is this photo of another fish pass in the Slinge river, a bit further downstream.
Before this fish ladder was made, there was a 80 centimeter high rapid here. Impossible to pass for fish, except maybe salmon. The new fish ladder consists of eight 10 centimeter high steps; with space in between them for fish to rest to ‘climb’ the next step. This helps at least five fish species which are quite rare in the Netherlands: chub; brook lamprey; burbot; dace; and ide.
Not far from the Berenschot water-mill is an important spawning ground for these species, which they can reach now. Besides fish, also, eg, water beetles and snails use the pass.
A nuthatch calls.
Ground-ivy flowers.
White nettle flowers.
Cow parsley flowering along a cycling track near the Slinge.
A blue tit.
A male and a female buzzard in mating flight.
A northern lapwing.
An orange tip butterfly male
A peacock butterfly.
A bit later, a bit more to the south, a partly woodland, partly farmland area.
Including a small stream.
A song thrush sings.
So does a yellowhammer.
Four roe deer in a meadow.
A wren sings on a tree stump.
Many dandelion flowers in a meadow.
This photo from the small lakes north of the Wooldse veen nature reserve shows moss plants. Some people would call this ‘flowering’ moss. However, mosses are ‘primitive’ plants, which have no seeds or flowers, but spores.
The photo is from 2 May 2017; two days after 30 April 2017 in Winterswijk.
Earlier that day, we had heard a chiffchaff, a blackbird, a song thrush and a pheasant.
Near the farm, the tulips still flowering.
A buzzard flies.
In the Buskersbos, ragged-robin flowers.
A large earth bumblebee on a white nettle flower.
Great spotted woodpecker and green woodpecker sounds.
A whitethroat sings near the Oude Borkense baan bridge.
In the afternoon, we went to the Wooldse veen.
Willow warbler, chiffchaff, cuckoo sounds.
On the boardwalk, a big spider: a raft spider.
A tree pipit flying and singing.
A male stonechat on a shrub.
Two goldfinches in a tree.
As we go back, we arrive at the two small lakes.
In the northern lake, a female tufted duck.
At the southern lake: a grey heron. Barn swallows flying.
The two Egyptian geese come back; still much in love with each other.
Two starlings bathing.
This 18 August 2015 video is about a match in the Dutch football cup competition between two clubs from Winterswijk: FC Winterswijk and FC Trias.
FC Trias got its name because it is a fusion of three earlier clubs.
However, the club grounds are also not far from the Winterswijk quarry. Where muschelkalk stone from the Triassic, over 200 million years ago, is mined. The Triassic got its name from its three distinct rock layers. The Dutch word for Triassic is Trias. In the Winterswijk quarry, recently, a Triassic beetle was discovered; and,earlier, Triassic marine reptiles.
This photo shows a redstart male, on the day after 29 April, so on 30 April 2017, in the garden in Winterswijk.
A female redstart was present as well.
Earlier, a rook had tried to drive away a flying buzzard; while a barn swallow flew past the two bigger birds.
A starling.
A brimstone butterfly.
A blackbird sings.
A blue tit.
This photo shows cottongrass in Wooldse veen nature reserve, south of Winterswijk, near the Dutch-German border. We went there on 29 April 2017; the day after 28 April.
A willow warbler sings. So does a chaffinch.
Green woodpecker sound.
A singing whitethroat.
A cuckoo calls.
A blackbird sings.
A moth lands on cottongrass.
We arrive at the German border.
A German signs warns this is hazardous moorland; only accessible outside the birds’ breeding season.
There is a lookout tower, with a bilingual Dutch and German sign.
We continued on the boardwalk.
And saw more cottongrass.
And more young willow and birch trees.
After leaving the Wooldse veen, we go north.
East of the Harkel Wassinkweg road are two small lakes.
On a bank, an Egyptian geese couple, very much in love.
Also, two northern lapwings. Mallards.
On another bank, a little ringed plover.
A little grebe swims.
A brimstone butterfly flies.
After 27 April 2017 in Winterswijk came 28 April. When we saw this male blackcap.
In the garden, a great tit.
Along the Slingeweg road, lilac flowers.
A dunnock along the road.
Near the Borkense baan bridge, this time no grey wagtails; but the blackcap of the photo at the top of this blog post was present.
At the entrance of the Buskersbos forest, a nuthatch on a tree.
A song thrush sings. So does a chaffinch.
This 2007 video is about amateur geologists collecting rocks in the quarry of Winterswijk, the Netherlands.
The ‘Muschelkalk‘ rocks there are from the Triassic, the time just before and during the rise of the dinosaurs and other groups of animals.
What is now Winterswijk was then a coastal area.
In 1932, a local businessman started the quarry. Regularly, there were excursions by geologists and paleontologists, to find ancient rocks and ancient fossils.
Now, Belgian multinational corporation Sibelco owns the quarry. The local geological society is no longer admitted for excursions.
A few geologists and paleontologists can still come. They have found Triassic marine reptiles; and, very recently, a Triassic beetle.
After 26 April 2017 in Winterswijk, we went to the quarry on 27 April 2017.
Before we arrived, an orange tip butterfly.
There is a short footpath to a part of the quarry where there is no commercial quarrying; and where an eagle owl couple, rare birds in the Netherlands, nests.
This video says about itself:
Eagle owl Winterswijk 01/06/2016
9 September 2016
These young, almost fully grown eagle owls showed well at the old quarry in Winterswijk, The Netherlands. They were quite active in broad daylight. At the end of the movie one of the chicks takes on a beautiful “defending my territory” pose to scare off a common buzzard.
We did not see the eagle owls. We did hear a song thrush sing. And we saw a willow warbler sing on as bush.
A bit further: a chiffchaff singing. A buzzard flies.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 