Cranes in the Diepholzer Moorniederung

Our love for nature and in this case especially for the migrating cranes, brought us in November to Germany, to the Diepholzer Moorniederung. This is a very large peat and agricultural area North of Osnabrück.

There was a good chance that we would encounter thousands of foraging cranes there. And luckily this was true! We saw lots of them, especially in quiet places, far away from villages and people. It was such a happy sight to see the adults with their young ones, enjoying the corn and grain the farmers left behind. 

It gives them the nutrition they need to continue their long journey to Spain. It is incredible that they are capable of flying thousands of miles and that they know exactly where to go. Impressive, these elegant tall birds.

As you can see it was sometimes a bit foggy when we were there. But as far as we were concerned, a beautiful sight!

The Camargue!

After quite a homely period of about a year, we set off to southern France, mid-september. We were hoping for nice walking and cycling weather and of course we were eager to observe birds, flowers and insects.

On our outward and return journey we visited some lake areas such as the lac de Madine and and the lac du Der. Our main goal was the Camargue, with its enormous diversity of waders (especially flamingos), vast nature, impressive "taureaux", salt lakes, quiet small roads, friendly people and its lovely "haute cuisine". A very nice holiday mix.

We were surprised by the large number of butter- and dragonflies. Perhaps because it was still quite warm, some 27 degrees Celsius. We learned a lot about the variety of grasshoppers. The Mantis Religiosa, the praying grasshopper, is our favourite! While jumping some 10 meters, it looks like a white butterfly.

As you can see, the nutria and the waders enjoyed the water; the scarlet dragonfly and the tree frog the pleasant sunlight.

What a wonderful life, there in the Camargue!

 

The happy animal book

 

After the success of "the teeny weeny animal book", it seemed a logical step to keep up drawing. And so I created a follow-up nature book for primary school students.

I should, exactly as in the previous situation, stimulate the love for nature. And of course promote reading pleasure and increase the knowledge of nature. There's also an instructive world map in the back of the book.

The result is "the happy animal book", in which many animals from all over the world tell the readers very personal stories about their way of living. Most of them seem to be happy ;-)

As you can see the animals have a nice appearance and look you straight in the eye. I discovered that this inspires children to go on reading and remain interested.

In the attached pictures you get an impression of the content of the book (40 pages, full colour, hard cover).

For now only available in Dutch through the internet bookstore or also directly from me. Send me an email if you're interested, miriamscha@gmail.com

Enjoy!

Het kleine beestjes boek: teeny-weeny animals

In the past few months, due to wintertime and corona, we were more homely than usual. So, instead of being outdoors, we studied all kind of nature aspects, such as the world of insects and the vital importance of biodiversity.

That brought me to the amazing beauty of all sorts of small animals, like spiders, insects, mollusks, crustaceans and a few cute mammals. From the only 1 millimeter springtail to the  20 centimeter hedgehog.

Inspired by the great David Hockney, I took my Ipad and started drawing these creatures. I enjoyed it so much, I could hardly stop ;-)

As a photographer I am an experienced observer, but to be able to draw in a more or less realistic way, requires much more. An interesting learning process!

Because of the cuteness of the result, my husband (biologist), stimulated me to create a children's book. Not only filled with these drawings, but also with a lot of fascinating nature facts. This way it would interest young people in the beauty and importance of nature. After all, small animals and little bugs are the basis of the food pyramid. 

To give you an impression, you'll find two examples in my blog. I thank Erik Visser info@raafwes.nl for his graphic design. So far, the book is only avalable in  Dutch.

Hopefully not only children, but also their (grand)parents will enjoy this happy nature book!

If you like to receive a copy of the 40-page ' Het kleine beestjes boek', drop me a line or go to the printing office's website: https://probook.nl/boekwinkel/kleine-beestjes/