Here in the Netherlands we have seen many more birds than we could have imagined. One very shy bird is the Jay and we have enjoyed watching this lovely bird coming and feeding here, ever so shy and nervous as always.
Here we are in the Netherlands, a northern clime, and I have just photographed a parrot – feeding at the Bird Rock Cafe outside our house. We add fat balls, whole peanuts, shelled peanuts, seeds, bread, etc for the birds and we have been delighted by the many many birds we have seen here in [...]
The wood pigeons here in the Netherlands are huge and they just do not know how big they really are. I watch them from the house landing on the flimsy little branches of the trees and they spend all their time and energy working out how to stay on the branch. There is a lot [...]
A Spring Tradition in Friesland In accordance with an old tradition in Friesland, the hunt for the first plover’s egg of the year has been on. The first egg was found yesterday morning in Britsum by Hidde Dijkstra who immediately sent a text message announcing his find, which was being presented to the Queen´s Commissioner [...]
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Today is the spring equinox, and the first official day of spring in the Netherlands. In this lovely Northern land, seasons have so much more meaning than in countries closer to the equator. You feel each new season with all your senses, in sharp contrast to the last one. The transition from one to another [...]
It was a beautiful day here in Haarlem and we just had to go for a bike ride. The weather report suggested rain – but it didn’t happen. Because we have not been on our bikes since the end of September, or maybe early October we decided on a short ride without any hills (there [...]
This is for Tomas, and anyone else who hasn’t actually seen snow falling anywhere. The view is from our lounge window. The odd bicycle going by – everything becoming slowly and surely white. It has been a beautiful, crisp, white white winter, wonderful for us from Auckland, New Zealand. It has not been so wonderful [...]
Continue reading about Snow Days for little people who haven’t yet experienced any
It is cold and miserable if you are a bird here in Haarlem right now, except if you are a smallish bird within 500 metres of this house. The bird restaurant is very busy every day – yesterday saw visits from the blue & great tits, a tree creeper, a robin, 1 jay, black birds, [...]
Expat Voices: 25/01/10 ConnieLene Johnston on living in the Netherlands Danish expat ConnieLene Johnston, who moved to the Netherlands from New Zealand, is ecstatic about Dutch bird life but cannot abide the way the Dutch simply park their bikes at any spot convenient to them. However, she has managed to join a group to continue [...]
Continue reading about Expatica.com article: 25/01/10, Expat Voices: ConnieLene Johnston
Winter. No snow (for the present). The ice on the canals is thinner, but still many are covered bank to bank. They are patterned with the tracks of the coots. We’re in a warm period that will last until mid-February – then it will get cold again with twenty-four hour sub-zeros for another three or [...]
