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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

Reed Buntings are plentiful in the reed beds on the marsh, swinging to and fro in the windblown reeds, squeaking out their trademark, staccato song…the above image was taken in a rare, tranquil moment on a blustery Sunday morning in June…

July 1, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: animals, art, birds, Emberiza schoeniclus, Friesland, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, Phragmites, reed, reed bunting, wind | 4 Comments

For the last three years I have noticed that Reed Warblers are always the last summer visitor to arrive on the marsh…It’s Always good to hear their song again and the Cuckoos are most delighted with their timely return! 😉

June 30, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: Acrocephalus scirpaceus, animals, art, birds, cuckoo, Friesland, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, Phragmites, reed warbler, reeds | 6 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

May 16, 2015 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: clouds, contrast, dandelions, Friesland, landscapes, lanes, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, spring, trees, willow | 6 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

August 16, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, dragonflies, Friesland, insects, keeled skimmer, macro-photography, morning, nature, outdoors, photography | 6 Comments

Squeezed inbetween a motorway and an industrial estate are the ruins of an ancient pingo…
In the diagrams below you can see a “before and after”…On the left is back in the ice age when underground water pushed up through the permafrost to form an ice dome filled with water, the image on the right shows the present day situation.




August 15, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, Friesland, ice age, landscapes, morning, nature, photography, pingo ruins | 2 Comments

When in pursuit of butterflies and dragonflies, I regularly end up getting distracted and finding something else like this red wood ant carefully managing his aphid farm. Ants feed on the honeydew excretions from the aphids…in return the ants will protect the aphids from predators and when the host plant is depleted of nutrients the ants carry the aphids to a new food source… 😎
August 11, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: ants, aphids, European red wood ant, forest, Formica rufa, Friesland, honeydew, insects, landscapes, macro-photography, morning, nature, outdoors, photography, sugar, symbiosis | 2 Comments
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August 10, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: amphibians, animals, art, Friesland, frogs, macro-photography, morning, nature, outdoors, photography | 2 Comments
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August 9, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, barn swallow, birds, Friesland, glow, landscapes, late summer, marsh, morning, nature, outdoors, photography | 2 Comments

After unsuccessfully trying to capture images of the abundant hawker dragonflies at rest on the sandy ground, I glanced up to see a line of them along the electric fence, signalling to each other with their wings… 😕
August 8, 2014 | Categories: Into the Wild... | Tags: art, Brown Hawker, dragonflies, Friesland, insects, landscapes, macro-photography, morning, nature, outdoors, photography | 4 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