A few weeks ago I needed to go to Hamburg for meetings and all business stuff. However I was staying near the Harbour area - with the famous red buildings. So a change to do some architecture photography again. This is still something I love to do as it is very difficult and getting good compositions and light is always a challenge. Well the light was there … so the rest was on me I guess.

This blog post is a long time in the making. Or maybe more specifically a set of photos that are not edited and shared are never taken, right? I have these photos sitting on my hard disk for over 4-5 years now and sort of forgot about it until I “rediscovered” these. Wait, wait, I shot these in 2015, so even my memory is off. So time to share an epic urbex trip or as more commonly known urban exploring and also a reminder to revisit your photo library now and then.

In the previous blog I wrote about observing, to recap here is the reason and intent. The last weeks I am starting to discover more birds in my area, especially directly in the area where I live. Meaning the first patch of green you will encounter when leaving the house. With the help of the Merlin Bird app, especially the sound recording feature - which is mind-blowing - I discovered more birds than I thought I would. Especially the Treecreeper and the Common redstart.

To be honest I never really took notice of Texel for birding until I heard several podcasts and checked sightings on Texel and it seems (duh) that it's absolute heaven for migrating birds from and towards Scandinavia. So That needed to be checked out and boy I was in for a treat. I have never seen/spotted (the difference I will explain later) so many birds. Still it was quite a challenge to get proper photos as some birds were really far away.

The last weeks I am starting to discover more birds in my area, especially directly in the area where I live. Meaning the first patch of green you will encounter when leaving the house. With the help of the Merlin Bird app, especially the sound recording feature - which is mind-blowing - I discovered more birds than I thought I would. Especially the Treecreeper and the Common redstart.

Spring’s green leaves, a perfect hiding spot for all birds. Birds making nests, birds that are migrating or just taking a rest. Especially in the area of Texel, one of the Islands in the Waddenzee (blog post incoming). This blog is more about the abundance of birds in my area at the moment and not only the ones you expect, but even more than I knew - thanks to Merlin birding app and the sound recording feature (game changer).

Meijendel is the largest contiguous dune area in South Holland. The beautiful nature reserve stretches between Scheveningen, The Hague and Wassenaar. The nature reserve consists of a predominantly open dune landscape, water features, forests and miles of sandy beach.

So new toys means new ideas and new opportunities. Not that it prevented me to do this in the past, but this reminded me of actually using a telephoto lens for more than just birding photos. This lens is also capable of doing semi-macro photos which I love and it sort of sparkled an old enthusiasm of macro photography.

Last year there was a couple of Marsh Harriers (Bruine kiekendief) breeding in my local area. Situated in the meadows or grasslands in Zaans Rietveld. Seeing that this was not the first time I expect that the same couple or new couple will do the same. So on a good day - sunny and clear skies - I went out in search of the Marsh Harrier. Spoiler in the blog photo I guess.