Imagine you’re sitting in a small, low hide, with your knees up to your neck. You’re on a flooded bog that’s sinking deeper into the water every hour and sunset kicks in. You’re alone in an open river valley, far away from civilisation. All alone, except for some elks and roe deer splashing around in the marshes and a background choir of stunning bird species: river warblers, corncrakes, whinchats, rosefinches, woodcocks and wood-warblers …
This Little bustard gave a wonderful performance, just in front of my hide in the drylands of Spain. At the climax point of their display, they seem to explode, and lift of for one meter in the air, making some strange prrrt noises…
Springtime! It’s like a daily party for us nature-photographers. But springtime in Scandinavia must be the biggest party! Two elusive birds start to show up and perform a spectacular display in the midst of ancient forests and bogs: the huge capercaillie and the noisy black grouse.
Years ago, when I was camping alone in a big forest in Sweden to photograph black grouses, some deep whooo’s woke me up in the middle of the night. I had never seen great grey owls in the wild before, but knowing there was one not far from my tent made me shiver. These are the moments in nature you never forget. I happily fell back asleep and tried to find the owl in the morning, but without any success. It would take me until last week to finally see this bird, when I travelled to northern Finland.
With great company from Norway, France and Belgium, I guided a photo-tour to Portugal to photograph the great bustard and many other birds. The group endured the 15-hours sessions in the hides very well, entering one hour before sunrise and leaving an hour after sunset. What a view we had from those little wooden boxes!
Centuries ago, the sea and the river Scheldt were flowing freely on the coastline and penetrated deep into the lowlands. Floods created streams in the land, which remained there long after the sea was controlled and closed off by dikes. One area in Flanders is particularly known because of its many big and long creeks: Meetjesland. Here are some aerial pictures I took there last week.
Here are some more pictures from our successful trip to Finland. Thanks to Olli from Finnature, we had a great time with some northern birds. My favourite was definitely the Willow grouse, a male that must have been crazy, and even attacking humans… I will never forget the sounds, really funny songs!
When we finished making pictures of the black woodpeckers and others, we went to our second destination in Finland: the national park of Riisintunturi. The landscapes are famous for the snowy pine trees on the fell, causing the trees to bend under the weight and creating a fairytale-like forest wrapped under a white veil.
From the moment I arrived in Bulgaria, I noticed the hawfinches. You can see them everywhere! Stop at any gasstation, and you can hear them! This was my chance to get some quality time with these beautiful birds! It’s a species that is rather shy in Belgium. I spent three days in a hide photographing hawfinches on a feeding ground.
I arrived at Sofia airport in Bulgaria in a -15°C cold, and my first destination was the Lake Kerkini in Greece. That meant I was travelling to an area with almost 20°C on the thermometer! This lake is famous for its roosting colony of Dalmatian pelicans. They only started to arrive here some twenty years ago but were very shy back then.
