Poetic image of the “Nieuwe Dordtse Biesbosch”

 

In the past six months, Marieke van leeuwen and I have been working with great enthusiasm on a richly illustrated collection of nature poetry, seventeen in number. The book shows how a nature reserve develops itself in a short time and how many plant and animal species happily occupy the area! 

In this specific case we have taken the "Nieuwe Dordtse Biesbosch" (an area in Southern South Holland) as an example. Such a development could happen anywhere where ever we give space to nature. And while doing so, we serve the earth and thus ourselves...

We hope to inspire you with this book full of endearing poems, charming birds, insects and other animals. Below, you'll find the book cover and an example of a left and right page from the book, to give you an impression.

The poems were made by Marieke, the design was created by a friend Erik Visser (raafwes.nl) and -no surprise there- the photo work was realised by me.

So far the poems have been written in Dutch as you can see. We keep ourselves recommended to publish an English version. So let us know if you are bilingual, creative and feel challenged ;-)

To order a copy of this book contact   https://probook.nl/boekwinkel/poetisch-beeld/

or send me an email and I'll take care of it:   miriamscha@gmail.com

 

Nature in North East Germany

Last September we went, because of our good experience last year, to NE Germany, this time all the way to the Polish border. Our main goal was to visit the nature reserves in Mecklenburg, Vorpommern and Brandenburg. We had quite ideal weather for walking, not too warm or wet and beautiful spooky clouds every now and then.

We hoped to see some cranes and birds of prey and that worked out very well!

Unlike Holland and the western part of Germany you'll find here a very quiet and huge area in which, next to agriculture, there is plenty of space for wild nature. The villages are cute (apart from some eastern bloc buildings), the people friendly and the roads sometimes somewhat simple, but that's part of the charm.

On our way back home we spent some time in the Harz mountains. That's unfortunately a sad area nowadays; the bark beetle got the chance to ruin these forests because of its monoculture. You can see the effect in one of my pictures.

But, whenever we are in unspoiled nature, its a question of looking carefully and closely (especially for insects) or in the more distant environment for landscape contours  or birds. It's all worth while!!

10 Hoverflies (Surphus), 16 Feverflies (Diophus febrilis) on wild Angelica

Anklammer stadtbruch

Red backed shrike (Lanius colurio)

Queen of Spain fritillary (Issorio lathonia)

Red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Sunflower (Helianthus)

Cranes (Grus grus)

Wooly burdock (Arctium tomentosum)

                            

Tansy beetle (Chrysolina graminis)

                        River Ilse in Lower Saxony                    

        Hare's foot inkcap (Coprinopsis lagopus)

White tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)

Landscape in the Müritz area

Southern hawk (Aeshna cyanea)

the Hartz mountains, largely destroyed

Spring dor beetle (Geotrupes vernalis)

Our wild city garden!

For more than twenty years now we enjoy our garden. It’s a well-landscaped but somewhat wild city garden. Which means that a wonderful biodiversity has developed. Especially the little pond, the bushes and flowering shrubs attract all sorts of amphibians, insects and birds. The little fountain is a well-appreciated bathtub for the birds ;-).

The last couple of years we ‘ve got more time to contemplate in our garden. So it’s often coffees in the morning, drinks at the end of the afternoon -sometimes with (grand)children, family & friends (unfortunately, not now... ) and dinner in the evening. It’s a pity that our cat Puk  isn’t there anymore to keep us company and contemplate with us…

A selection of what we see and saw over the years in our garden in several seasons, you’ll find in my pictures.

So, be welcome and join us in the small and amazingly beautiful world of our biotope!

Homage to Christo

In the list of contemporary artists Christo is –together with people like Niki the Saint Phalle and David Hockney-  far at our top.

They have in common that by working very hard and knowing what they want to create, they make the most special and original works of art, no matter what!

                                                            Christo 1935 – 2020 (Picture ARTnet)

It’s unbelievable the effort Christo spent for years and years, trying to achieve what people thougt impossible. Like the Floating Piers at Italy's Lake Iseo, wrapping up the pont Neuf in Paris and the Reichstag in Berlin. 

It’s sad that this great artist passed away at the age of 84, but it’s good to know he went peacefully at his own home in New York.

I’m very glad that my daughter and I had the opportunity to travel to Berlin some 25 years ago to admire his enormous artwork, the wrapped up Reichstag. We couldn’t get enough of this special sight and within a few days we went three times to the impressive building to try and absorb the beauty. In the pictures I took, you can therefore detect several types of weather.

In the second picture the presence of birds allow you to see the gigantic size of the building; the last one was created, as you can see, by old-fashioned copying techniques ;-)

But more important, let’s cherish Christo’s personality and be inspired by his enthusiasm and never ending courage to realize his ideas by working constructively together with many people!

Let’s hope that wrapping up the Arc de Triomphe becomes the crown on his work. 

May Christo rest in peace.

Mallorca in springtime!

We visited the beautiful national parks of Mallorca before, but never in springtime. So this was a new experience in the first week of March ‘20.

It feels extra special since we now know, that at the moment (hopefully not for a very long time) it’s impossible and not wise to travel to Spain or France…..

But anyway, we were lucky to enjoy the diversity of orchids and flowers and the first butterflies of the season like the green Hairstreak, the Swallowtail and the Wall. Especially in s’Albufera Natural Park we were treated to many water birds and birds of prey.

In my pictures I tried to capture birds in action and in the wind, the never ending beauty of water & light and the nice and the quiet park itself. 
We cherish the beautiful memory and feeling!

s 'Albufera Natural Park

Glossy Ibis

Ophrys Tenthedinifera                                           Hyacintorchis                                         Orchis Italica

Green Hairstreak

Andouin’s Gulls on the move

Marbled Duck

Thistle Galactitus Tomentosa

Avocets, with their chic blue-grey legs ;-)

s' Albufera Natural Park

Great Cormorant and Cattle Egret, heads in the wind

s' Albufera Natural Park

Stone-curlew, hiding for us...

Red kite hunting

Cala Mondragó Bay

Osprey, taking off after bathing

The same osprey, drying in the wind