Fighting geese....

Spring is in the air... some clean their house... others fight with their rivals.




                                                             To close for comfort...

They byte!

The one on the right lost.

A green and yellow spring

In this ditch ducks or coots have made their own "highway" through the duckweed

Rapeseed flowers.

Gorgeous dandelions.

This pheasant wants to be seen.

Grey geese making a lot of noise....

...but looking so smart with their finely striped feathers.

I suppose this is what a quiet Sunday morning in springtime should look like.

And more rapeseed (I can't get enough of this happy yellow color).

Imagine, this country park is in the middle of the densely populated west part of Holland: The Delftse Hout, between Rotterdam and The Hague.

The storks are here again

There they are. The storks are back. Looking for some juicy frogs.....

A little further a willow tree is in full bloom.

A shiny blue beetle (I have never seen before) climbing into the dried out rests of fireweed (wilgenroosje)

Isn't it all about procreation....

A fancy "hotel" for bees and other small animals. This must be at least 4 stars.

Our storks have found a good place to make a nest. Still a lot of work has to be done....

Spring is coming…. and so are the tulips.

    

This morning I got a mailing from the “Keukenhof” it opens on March 24. It must be almost spring then…. 

The “Keukenhof” is the fairy tale park with tulips and all all other bulbs you can think of. Tulips are for many people the equivalent of Holland and maybe even of springtime in Holland. 

Of course springtime is more than tulips; the soft green leaves starting to grow on the trees, the crisp air that puts you into a mood to clean the house, getting up in the morning with the sun already shining (when it doesn’t rain).

Just 2 years after Columbus discovered America, the first tulip bloomed in the Hortus Botanicus at Leiden (Holland 1594). People went crazy about this flower and 40 years later this culminated in the Tulipmania. Now we would say a Tulip-bubble. In that time also the Tulipière became fashionable. 

 

So, if you want to see tulips in Holland there is one place you cannot miss. It is this “Keukenhof”. The word "keukenhof" refers to the use as a kitchen garden of a mansion. Ages ago herbs for use in the kitchen were collected on this spot.

And there is more. There are of course the fields where the tulips are grown. Most of the fields are near the coast in the provinces of North- and South-Holland. The bulbs need a mixture of sand and clay.

Not only along the coast there are bulb fields. Also in the “Noord-Oost polder” are large fields full of colorful tulips and other bulbs.

The tulips are special, but look at these tender frittillaria or the daffodils.

  Or this blue river of grape hyacinths that runs through the "Keukenhof"......

See also on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47357125@N08/sets/72157626286247464/