Dutch arctic

Today I went to the little town Stavoren (± 1000 inhabitants; it was granted city rights back in 1118, making it the oldest city in Friesland!) to enjoy the drifting ice on the “IJsselmeer” lake. After a cold period, the ice shelf breaks up and fueled by the western winds it piles up on the eastern shores of this lake. I missed this impressive end-of-winter phenomenon the last 2 years, so I was very eager to go!

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 17mm; ISO-200, f16, 1/10s; +0.7 stop; polarization filter; from tripod.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 26mm; ISO-200, f16, 1/2s; +1 stop; polarization filter and 2 stop ND gradient filter; from tripod.

Peekaboo

The last 2 weeks most open water has been turned into ice. Tomorrow thaw will set in according the weather prediction (but last night temperature still went below -10⁰C!). A good day to check-out ditches with some running water for Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus/Bokje). In one small ditch we (Jan Timmermans, Jarno van Bussel, and myself) found 6 birds. This one was very approachable, trusting its camouflage. Peekaboo!

* Canon EOS 7D with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-400, f4, 1/320s, -0.7 step, hand held.

The next morning

Snow yesterday evening and temperatures that have plummeted tonight to a historic low value of -19⁰C. These are the ingredients for a beautiful photogenic world. I chose to go for the sunrise to the nearby lowland stream “Kleine Dommel”. Here is one of the many pictures I made. When you compare this to the post of January 2009 you can see that this time the river is almost frozen.
Later that day I had parental duties. Me daughter Evelien phoned me; she got stuck at railway station “Utrecht CS” together with more than 1000 travellers. No trains arrived or got out, so I decided to pick her up. That is also part of the Dutch winter!

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 32mm; ISO-800, f13, 1/60s, +0.7 stop; polarization filter, hand held.

Winter has arrived

Finally winter has come! The last couple of days the temperature stayed below zero at daytime. Water turns into ice. And today we had some serious snow, with the usual side effects in The Netherlands, i.e. non-functional trains and huge traffic jams.
However, before the snowfall started I went with Jos van de Kerkhof, Theo van de Mortel and Wilco Minten to Zeeland to photograph shore birds. Here are 2 highlights: Dunlin (Calidris alpina/Bonte Strandloper) and Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus/Zwarte Ruiter) on ice.

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/320s, +0.7 stop; from beanbag.
* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/500s, +0.7 stop; from beanbag.

I can’t withhold today’s sunset. So I added a third picture with snowy dikes and snow showers moving south towards Belgium. Temperatures were dropping fast when we drove back … to be continued (see next post).

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 17mm; ISO-400, f8, 1/60s, +0.7 stop; hand held.