In the past couple of days, 43 baby seals have been brought to the seal shelter Zeehondencreche in Pieterburen, a town in the north of the Netherlands. The babies lost their mothers and were washed ashore during rough seas. More »
For the first time in 39 years there will be no New Year’s dive in Scheveningen on New Year’s Day, here in the Netherlands. A combination of hard wind from the south west and high tide will cause strong currents and high waves that are too dangerous according to the fire department, police, lifeguards, health services and the local government. The event started in 1965 and draws between 7,000 and 10,000 cold-seeking participants every year. More »
I just received two packages through the mail with DVDs that I had ordered from Amazon. I was required to pay the mailman a hefty import tax for receiving these goods, and it was much more than I expected. More »
Various environmental groups in the Netherlands have called on the Dutch parliament to invest money in bird protection. Last week Natuurmonumenten and the Dutch partner of BirdLife International, together with five other agencies, sent the strong message to the Minister of Landscape, Nature and Food Quality.
Yesterday we found an unusually large selection of American grocery products at a regular supermarket in the Hague, here in the Netherlands. The store is Coop Van Dijk on Ursulaland 80-82 (see on Google map). There used to be an American school nearby, which is now gone, but the owner still likes to keep importing the American products, which fill an entire aisle in the store. More »
Until today, European law dictated television channels across Europe to have no more than twelve minutes of advertisements per hour, and in no more than three separate commercial breaks per hour. Today, EU countries decided to let go of this rule and allow commercials to be spread in more, smaller breaks, but still with a maximum of twelve minutes per hour. The change still needs approval from the European Parlement. More »
Rescue workers near the Frisian town of Marrum (145 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam) struggled yesterday to save a herd of one hundred horses stranded for days on a tiny island after a storm earlier this week turned their pasture into sea. Eighteen horses have already drowned, and the rest have spent two nights huddled together in knee-deep water. More »
Boar-hunting season in the Netherlands officially began on 15 October. Besides wild boar, hunters in Holland may shoot hares and rabbits, pheasants, wood pigeons and mallard ducks. With this in mind the Dutch animal rights group Dierenbescherming requested statisticians from Blauw Research to survey the population on the subject of hunting. The group surveyed 1278 people. The result: 97% of Dutch residents disapprove of hunting as a sport. More »
A hot air balloonist who disturbed hundreds of breeding birds when flying too low over the Nieuwkoopse Plassen, here in the Netherlands, has been fined € 300 by a judge in the Hague. The 36-year-old man had started his flight in Woerden in June last year, and had accidentally drifted toward Schiphol Airport. To evade the airport the man changed his heading and flew just 25 meter over the nature reserve, where hundreds of birds were startled by the loud burner of the hot air balloon and flew away. The judge decided that the balloonist had not properly prepared the flight. More »
The IKEA in Delft, here in the Netherlands, has recently expanded their store, doubling its size and destroying an important nesting habitat for bats. To provide shelter for the displaced bats, the city of Delft is funding the construction of a special bat-cave behind the IKEA store. More »