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November 26, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, Bakkeveen, birds, dawn, Friesland, landscape, morning, Morning Glory, nature, outdoors, photography, sunrise, Tree Pipit, woodland | Leave a comment
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November 21, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, canine, cats, dawn, Friesland, landscapes, marsh, meadows, morning, nature, outdoors, photography | 2 Comments
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August 30, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, barn swallow, birds, centre of attention, dawn, Earnewoude, Friesland, Hirundo rustica, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, swallow | 8 Comments




August 29, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, birds, dawn, Friesland, landscapes, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, sun, Whitethroat | 4 Comments






August 27, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, Barnacle Goose, birds, dawn, daybreak, Friesland, goslings, Grey heron, landscapes, marsh, mist, misty morning, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, sedge warbler, water | 14 Comments

Cuckoos have been getting very excited and full of themselves lately…my personal theory for this behaviour is the arrival of Reed Warblers on the marsh… 😉

June 24, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: Acrocephalus scirpaceus, Alde Feanen, animals, art, birds, common cuckoo, crafty, cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, cunning, dawn, Earnewoude, Eurasian reed warbler, Friesland, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, reed warbler | Leave a comment





June 23, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: Alde Feanen, dawn, Earnewoude, Friesland, landscapes, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, spring, water | 4 Comments

June 22, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: Alde Feanen, animals, art, birds, blue, bluethroat, dawn, Friesland, Luscinia svecica, marsh, Monday, morning, nature, outdoors, photography | Leave a comment

It was the first day of June and I had decided to leave the bicycle and take a more local walk just to discover what was there…

My spontaneous wanderings led me first through meadows where the mist was highlighted by the dawn sun and oystercatchers foraged in floral meadows…

Along the side of the road I came across a Jay or two…

Then I decided to check out a footpath alongside the motorway where years ago I used to walk with my beloved fox terrier called Billy…the verge was built up to create a sound barrier…the last time I had walked there there were many young trees…all of which had now been removed and was currently filled with flowers…
Between the flowers and scrub were many birds, mainly Whitethroats…yet there was a bird singing an amazingly beautiful song that was confusing me as it looked like a Reed Warbler, but I was familiar with the Reed Warblers’ song and I knew the song I was hearing was nothing like it…

It wasn’t until a week or so later when I met a fellow photographer, who spoke over Marsh Warblers that it slowly began to dawn on me that all the years I had been overlooking this species…and as usual with bird identification, once you confirm the identity, you see and hear the Marsh Warbler everywhere…

There were whitethroats everywhere too…to be honest it was all a bit of a pleasant surprise…


Finally, the sun was rising on the opposite side of the motorway to which I was standing and made a halo in the sky to round off a perfect morning stroll. 🙂

June 21, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, birds, birdsong, dawn, flowers, Friesland, Jay, landscapes, Marsh Warbler, morning, motorway, nature, outdoors, oystercatcher, photography, Whitethroat | 6 Comments
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June 11, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, damselflies, dawn, Friesland, insects, macro-photography, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, photography | 2 Comments

Usually you will only hear the loud and vibrant song of a wren pulsating across the marsh, yet this tiny brown ball of song will remain hidden in the undergrowth….usually if you do manage to get a sighting of this bird it will only be for a fleeting split-second…
On this particular dawn I followed the song and waited until he hopped into view…this wren was scurrying up and down the branches whilst singing and eventually posed for me as the first rays of the morning sun filtered through the trees. 🙂




May 10, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, bigmouth, birds, birdsong, dawn, Eurasian wren, Friesland, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, Troglodytes troglodytes, wren | 8 Comments

As the female swallow gazes out into the golden dawn, the male darts skillfully back in through the narrow bird-hide window carrying the next meal for their hungry offsping. 🙂
August 6, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, barn swallow, birds, dawn, Friesland, Hirundo rustica, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, photography | Leave a comment
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August 5, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, birds, dawn, Friesland, marsh, morning, Motacilla alba, nature, outdoors, photography, Pied wagtail | Leave a comment
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August 4, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, dawn, Friesland, landscapes, lane, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, path, photography, trees | 2 Comments
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July 29, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, dawn, forest, Friesland, landscapes, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, trees, woodland | 8 Comments

There’s something about the light and colours of this place…at dawn and dusk, a bit of sunshine to just set everything off and voila! 😎
Something about the colours of sedge grass and heather on the heathland seem to glow against the dark background of the surrounding forest…
Just something…je ne sais quoi… 😕
July 27, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, dawn, forest, Friesland, heather, heathland, landscapes, light, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, sedge grass, sheep | 2 Comments




July 25, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, cobwebs, dawn, Friesland, landscapes, macro-photography, morning, nature, orb weavers, outdoors, photography, sedge grass, spider | 12 Comments


July 24, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, crystalline, dawn, Friesland, gastropod mollusc, landscapes, macro-photography, morning, morning dew, nature, photography, slugs | 6 Comments




July 23, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, Bindweed, dawn, flowers, Friesland, landscapes, macro-photography, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, Rosebay Willowherb, Tufted Vetch | 8 Comments
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July 6, 2014 | Categories: Doorstep Wilderness | Tags: art, dawn, Friesland, garden, gastropods, macro-photography, molluscs, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, refuge, safety, snails, wall | 6 Comments
“We’ve gone on holiday by mistake. We’re in this cottage
here. Are you the farmer?” Excerpt from ‘Withnail and I’ from Bruce Robinson

Usually before I venture out, I will have thoroughly studied what could possibly happen weatherwise to avoid unnecessary and unpleasant situations…
Not wanting to cycle in the dark, due to the faulty rear light on my bicycle and a rather narrow road without a cyclepath, I left as soon as it was light…my intention was to cycle a route of about 30-35km to somewhere I’d never been before, I did however notice that the sky was becoming very interesting…
About halfway I decided to stop and rest for a bit in the forest next to the pingo-pocked heathland…it seemed perfect but the sky was reminding me of my own apparent vulnerability. 😕

All of a sudden there was a gale humming through the forest under the darkest of clouds…being miles from my pc I couldn’t check the radar to see if this was really going to happen, the clouds must have unexpectedly changed course…
The obvious precipitation followed, the only shelter for miles around was the forest itself…
So I settled for a cosy spot under an oak tree and sat it out for an hour or two, waiting for the worst of the storm to pass…I was kept company by a tree pipit and some frogs and although the current turn of events had washed out my original plans I was just content to experience being in this forest at dawn in a storm…a new experience for me…I stayed dry too! 🙂

June 30, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, clouds, dawn, forest, Friesland, landscapes, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, storm, stranded, Withnail and I | 2 Comments


June 2, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, dawn, ethereal, Friesland, landscapes, marsh, misty, morning, nature, photography | 6 Comments




May 31, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, dawn, friesian horse, Friesland, horses, marsh, misty, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, spider | 15 Comments