PeterHG's BY in whatever form it will take.

[Peter Connan]

Lovely shots and well done to the plucky Lapwing!

Somewhere I have some rather less beautiful photos of a different pair. Blacksmith and Open-bill.

 

300 must surely fall soon!

[pedro maia]

It was a pity I couldn´t meet you this time Peter, but I hope in September we can go birding together somewhere around here.

[Kitsafari]

sorry to hear you lost a spot because of irresponsible birders/photographers. hope you still have many of such secret spots!

[PeterHG]

 

Thank you @BRACQUENE @Peter Connan @pedro maia @Kitsafari

On 5/21/2024 at 12:20 PM, Peter Connan said:

300 must surely fall soon!

I think so, too....;)

 

19 hours ago, pedro maia said:

but I hope in September we can go birding together somewhere around here.

I hope so, too, Pedro. That would be great.

 

7 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

hope you still have many of such secret spots!

Well, fortunately a large part of the area is still accessible on foot from a nearby parking spot. It's just this one road that allowed photography from the car that is out of bounds now.

 

[PeterHG]

On 5/21/2024 at 12:01 PM, BRACQUENE said:

I would love to visit but it is not so close to where I live , a drive of three hours

Yes, that is too far for a casual visit, but who knows....

[PeterHG]

299 / NL 74. Icterine Warbler. Arkemheen, May. Not a common bird at all and I was quite happy to find one in this area.

 

I had promised a friend I would take her out to do some birding one morning and we decided on a newly created wetland area halfway between our homes. In a rare, but beautiful citizens' initiative farmers, nature lovers, environmental organisations and the local goverment have worked together to create this area, in order to restore some biodiversity. The weather was not ideal with some drizzle and too much wind, but we did enjoy the walk and saw some nice species, like Spoonbill and Bluethroat. I will defintely return here. (https://www.birdingplaces.eu/nl/birdingplaces/netherlands/binnenveldse-hooilanden~)

 

300 / NL 75. Bluethroat. Wageningen, May

 

[BRACQUENE]

Thanks Peter ! If I come over I will certainly contact you so that you can perhaps help me discover the area

In two weeks I am in Cadzand on holiday like last year and of course birding will be on the menu !

[xelas]

Congratulations for your beautiful #300, Peter!

[TonyQ]

A really beautiful bird for your 300. Congratulations 

[BRACQUENE]

Congratulations with your third century Peter !

[Tdgraves]

congratulations on the 300

[Kitsafari]

A beautiful #300. congrats!

[Peter Connan]

A lovely little bird to reach such a milestone on Peter!

Edited May 25 by Peter Connan

[Zim Girl]

Great picture of the Bluethroat for your 300th bird!

[PeterHG]

Thank you @BRACQUENE @xelas @TonyQ @Tdgraves @Kitsafari @Peter Connan @Zim Girl!

 

A friend of mine pointed me to the location of a nestbox that was occupied by a pair of Pied Flycatchers. As this bird is uncommon here and I hadn't seen one for a number of years, I decided to go and have a look. I kept my distance, of course and only stayed for a short white, but the parents appeared to be completely undisturbed by my presence. They kept on feeding the young (2 or three) and I even got both of them flying in before I left.

 

301 / NL 76. Pied Flycatcher. Nijkerk, June.

 

[PeterHG]

We spent a weekend with a group of friends and on the last evening I took a few of them to a nearby nature area. The weather was grey and our walk was cut short by the fact that quite a few of the walking tracks had flooded. To make up for this we saw 4 or 5 Eurasian Hobby's hunting for dragonflies and butterflies. I had my camera with me and took some photos, but due to the light conditions, the results were pretty poor. Yesterday I drove back there on my own, since it was only half an hout from where I live and the sun was out in the early evening. Fortunately the birds were in the same spot and I spent almost an hour watching them and trying to capture some good action shots. I don't think I've ever had a better opportunity at photographing them and I am quite happy with the results. I hope you'll forgive me for posting a little batch. It was such a special moment.

 

302 / NL 77 Eurasian Hobby. Leersum, June.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tdgraves]

Lovely hobbies (and flycatchers)

[TonyQ]

A beautiful series of Hobby photos.

Well worth the second visit 

[Zim Girl]

Fantastic Hobby pictures!

[michael-ibk]

Congrats on #300 Peter, a really lovely Bluethroat. And awesome Hobby shots!

[Peter Connan]

Wonderful shots of the Hobby feeding!

[xelas]

Excellent Hobby shots!

[Kitsafari]

wow on the Hobby series, and so darn jealous. 

Edited June 10 by Kitsafari

[PeterHG]

Thanks for the kind words @Tdgraves @TonyQ @Zim Girl @michael-ibk @Peter Connan @xelas @Kitsafari! The Hobbies were a really special sighting for me and they gave me such great photo opportunities !

[PeterHG]

302 / NL 78. Great Crested Grebe. Arkemheen, April. Very common. This one is from a while back.

 

303 / NL 79. Stock Dove. Arkemheen,June. Also quite common in the local reserve, but often overlooked, especially by me....;)

 

304 / NL 80. Red-crested Pochard. Arkemheen, June. A fly-by in the evening sun of a beautiful male. Although I see one or two in the area every year, it is a scarce bird.