Today we watched a Kestrel trying to catch some food on this rather cold and breezy Christmas Day (yep ... in the Netherlands we have 2 Christmas days). This time we had brought along our birding scope and managed to get some pictures.



Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour, which is to hover at a height of around 10–20 m over open country and swoop down on prey. Their prey consists out of small mammals (mice, voles), large insects, frogs, earthworms and sometimes small birds.



A Kestrel does not make its own nest. It merely accepts sites in church towers, old windmills or hollow trees or nest boxes set up by humans.
Even deserted nests of other birds are sometimes used.



We hope to show you some pics of a Kestrel’s nest next summer, as they are breeding in a nest box just nearby.

In former times winters in the Netherlands were long and cold. Nowadays, due to global warming, we are presented with warmer winters, with lots of wind and rain. But last week we had a short cold wave bringing cold clear nights and beautiful bright skies during daytime. One day we woke up to find a frosted landscape. Here are some pictures to enjoy.

The sun just came up behind the trees, trying to warm us up a bit.



After walking through the fields, we came across a small forest, and oh my... an astonishing view it was. All the trees were covered in frost and it all looked like a fairytale. Please enlarge underneath pictures by clicking on them.


As you can see from underneath pictures it was really a winter wonderland. And remarkably not many people were up. All running around like a madman to get all the groceries in for the upcoming Christmas days, to buy the last Christmas presents and you name it. We just enjoyed the views presented to us.



One more picture to finish this winterfeeling.




O....nope....here is just one other picture. Taken by our parents, who live about 200 kms away from us. They even had more frost than we did.
Sometimes it is just not fair . But this one looks just great, doesn't it?

mmh..... it is a normal hedgehog that's for sure.

No, it is NOT. This is the Hedgehog who knocked our doors. Now look how cute he/she has become with those naughty eyes. Our "Uppie" (free translation "all alone"), the name we gave him as he/she was the only hedgehog given a name in the hedgehog shelter, was released end of August into the wild. But not before taken this cute picture.



Enjoy your freedom, Uppie

During one of our walks in the fields we saw this 'thing' in the air. And we had to wait quite a while before we could figure it out it was an hot-air balloon, one with a very peculiar shape.



That evening we have seen at least 16 hot-air balloons in the air. Ofcourse all heading the same direction. If you look good you will count 5 of them on this photo.