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Well the following weekend after this one, see previous blog post, was just as nice and therefor a second attempt to get some good old bird shots in the dunes. Again the sun was really giving that winter yellow light. Kind of and endless folder hour at that moment. Now where we are further into January this is slowly disappearing, which is a shame, but the weather lately is so dull and grey that I welcome spring and warmer weather for sure!

My hike started out at the exact same point as the previous hike. Again I was in search of birds, especially the Bearded reedling (Baardmannetje - panurus biarmicus). And - spoiler - I didn’t saw even one. However I did, again, discovery a new area within the dunes with many birds, grass, moss and trees where woodpeckers and other birds where in abundance. Here I shot a nice Great spotted woodpecker (Grote bonte specht - Dendrocopos major). It was just searching for food and really didn’t mind me being there, at a respectable distance.

My hike continued to the reeds, where I would supposed to find the reedlings, no luck though, but after stumbling over some deer in great light and a rainbow I saw this bigger deer drinking at a pond with great light which really set the scene. It seems to just stand there, wondering what I was doing there and after taking another sip of water it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.

Well that was a small surprise, good light, rainbow and deer, especially the bigger one drinking at that pond. Really need to keep revisiting this area as it has a lot of potential later on in spring with sunrise and sunset as well. Can’t wait.

Getting up and moving on the next pond I crossed without thinking, but in the corner of my eye saw some water birds. They where too far away, but I like those low perspective water shots, that I never seem to get just right. So this was more practise than an epic photo. Next time, I’'ll take my time and wait for the birds to come to me. Still, a good photo.

I almost was a the area for my nemesis -haha- bird, nothing to see here. Ow well, nothing here than carry on! With that in mind I continued and really wasn’t paying attention until I saw two small birds fleeing into a bush. One small bird was shedding some water and drying itself in the sun after a small drizzle, really hidden away in the thorns and therefor really didn’t mind me taking some photos I guess. Here you can really see, if you get close enough the Fujinon lens is really sharp at 400mm, just know how to use it. A really nice little birds, a Blue tit (Pimpelmees - Cyanistes caeruleus)

Time to get up and go. The sun was already low at the horizon and the clouds started to roll in. Therefor the best light was gone. So I packed my stuff, but nog before spotting a Kestrel (Torenvalk - Falco tinnunculus). I walked slow and softly and ended up pretty close, closer than I expected. However it was sitting in some pretty harsh backlight, so not the best photo, but I was really nice and close. I’ll take it!

On the way back, with the same grey light, I spotted a Stonechat ( Roodborsttapuit - Saxicola rubicola) and in the tall gras and scared Ring-necked Pheasant (Fazant - Phasianus colchicus).

For now all the photos of that day! And don’t hesitate to leave a comment or an e-mail. All photos are taken with the Fujifilm X-T3 and the Fujinon 100-400mm. Click to view larger in a light box and navigate with mouse or arrow keys. Enjoy!