The Humpback Whale that we tried to see on Sunday was seen again the last two days at Zuidpier. On Monday it even made a big jump that was caught on camera. Have a look at the great pictures and video at Inge’s web-log.
Today we visited IJmuiden after seeing on waarneming.nl that for the last three days they have been spotting a Humpback Whale just 20 meters from the South Pier. We weren’t lucky today and didn’t see it, but we did see some great birds, including three new lifers (Black-legged Kittiwake, Red Knot and Pomarine Skua)!
The Dutch government is investigating the possibility of building an island off the North Sea coast for highly needed new farmland in our overcrowded country. Dutch contractors also built the Palm Islands in Dubai. Political party CDA suggested this week to build an island in the shape of a tulip. I’m not sure how practical this would be, but it would sure look cool on Google Maps:
On 24 August, the day before we visited the Vogelfestival this year, we went to the city of Giethoorn, which is known in the Netherlands as the “Venice of the North”. We got an electric boat from the many rental companies and made a two-hour tour around the city and adjacent nature area and lake. There were many boats out on this beautiful summer day, and on the lake we found a boat selling packaged ice creams! There was a girl on a small barge and an Ola freezer selling ice creams to passing boats:
Yesterday we visited the annual Vogelfestival (“Bird Fair”), organised by the Dutch State Forestry, SOVON and Vogelbescherming Nederland, the Dutch partner of BirdLife International. It is a major event for bird and birding enthusiasts and is modelled after the British Birdfair held in Rutland Water. The annual Dutch event has grown to include over 100 exhibitors and is attended by more than 15,000 visitors. The fair is held at the Oostvaardersplassen, an important nature reserve (see also our visit there in March 2007).
A hunebed (Dutch for ‘Dolmen’) is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, consisting of three or more upright stones (megaliths) supporting a large flat horizontal capstone (table). Most date from the early Neolithic period (4000 BC to 3000 BC). The Netherlands have 54 of these prehistoric graves, and 52 are in the province of Drenthe. The largest one is located near the Hunnebedcentrum visitor center in Borger that we visited last Sunday.
Last Sunday we visited Boomkroonpad (‘Tree Top Path’), a 2,500 hectare (6,000 acre) forest preserve in Drenthe, here in the Netherlands. The main attraction at Boomkroonpad is a path of 125 meters (410 feet) through the tree tops, reaching a height of 22,5 meters (74 feet). Unfortunately it was pouring down on our visit and we didn’t see any birds or wildlife. But still it was an extremely fun walk that we will need to do again once when the weather is better. There is also a very nice visitor center with shop, restaurant and lots of activities and trails.
On Saturday we visited Waverhoek and Botshol, north of Utrecht, for a ranger-led boat excursion by Natuurmonumenten. We arrived about an hour early for the boat excursion, which left from number 2 on the map below, so we drove on left a little bit and came across a new nature reserve of Natuurmonumenten that just opened to the public on 30 June 2007, Waverhoek at number 1 on the map below. Until recently this triangular area was just farmland, as you can still see on this map, but they flooded the area to make a wetlands for birds.
Last Saturday we went to the Arrow Rock Festival in Biddinghuizen. The festival took place at the Walibi World amusement park, in a large field set up for festivals and events. The festival hosted a dozen artists and was headlined by Aerosmith. Here are some short clips of the event:
Last Sunday the cockpit of an Air France Boeing 707 was sunk in De Beldert lake in Zoelen, the Netherlands. The sinking took place over a year later than originally planned. By the end of the day nearly 20 divers had already visited the new wreck. More »