Colored clouds

While relaxing in my garden and having my lunch, looking around.
I suddenly discovered that I have many colored clouds in my garden...

Pink, blue, white, light-yellow, lilac and of course all the greens.
It's just a lovely thought, being surrounded by all these colored clouds! 

Song trush

 This young Song trush is having a great time while bathing.

You can see by his looks, how much he is enjoying it. 

Bullfinch

 What about this extremely amazing color combination.

The foxgloves happens to blossom right beside the birdbath...and then a bullfinch male, (goudvink) comes to have a bath!

So beautiful! 

Hawfinch

 

 

I seems to me that the hawfinch, appelvink has young. 

I see him gathering food and flying away with a full beak.

I the basket above (hanging in the tree) are sunflower seeds. So to me it looks like he is picking up these seeds, the other birds spilled over the basket. 

Because he is a rare bird here, its great to have this bird having a nest close by. 

Appelvink. Hawfinch, Coccothraustes coccothraustes

 

raining

 It's been raining almost all day yesterday.

Big splashes and drops of rain jumping up and down in the birdbath. 
As if the raindrops maybe wanted  to have a warm bath too.
Maybe that's it... raindrops trying to have a warm bath...why not?

Te voet post

Recently I made another stamp for my brother in law.
During new-year he had made his best wishes cards and drawn a stamp on the enveloppe.

And then delivered the mail himself, without delivering it  through the regular snailmail-deliveryservice.

He wrote on the stamp, Te voet post, Mail by foot.

I found that very funny, so I made for him some stamps with his drawing on it. 
 

Stamp

When you have followed my blog for quite some time, you might know that I love stamps. 

Recently I had some stamps made for my sister as a birthday present. 

I asked her to let me know what should be the theme and subject for the stamp. She came up with this. In the area were my parents and their grandparents family were born, there is growing a very rare flower. not in other places in our country, as far as I know.

When I was a child these flowers were already very rare, and at that time we were told not to pick them because they are protected. So now many decades later, they are very, very rare. I have very lovely memories of that time.

Its the wilde kivietsbloem ( (Fritillaria meleagris) (Checkered Lilyflower.)

They are beautiful lovely flowers in white and purple-ish colors. only growing in wet meadow lands.
I asked her to sent me a stamp in the mail. 
So here it is!

Proof copy of my books

 I just ordered 4 proof copies of 4 books I made.

Like the other ones they will be available on Amazon 

Have been working quite some time editing and making the stories available for sale.
I took me a while since I did the last books some 1,5 years ago.

A lot of back-lash and obstacles hindered me to get me on the go again with these books. But now I did. You can also read them in my blog, where I originally created them. 

Because they get lost in the archives. I wanted them more available for people.

I soon hope to publish them after I have approved them.

Robin young

 My garden has lots of flying young coal-tits, blue-tits and even a young robin or more.

It's not so easy to have a good photo, because they are constantly on the move. 
Here I captured a young robin who is begging for food. The parents are very busy to get their beaks full.

woodpecker

 This is so amazing.

I have put some sunflower seeds and oats in the feeding basket for the birds.
The birds are really enjoying it. Today, a woodpecker has discovered the seeds as well...
With his beak full of seeds he flies to and fro to his nest...looks like he has young and lots of woodpecker babies to feed.
I love to see how many seeds he can hold all together in his beak.

Flycatcher

Here a female flycatcher is having her daily late afternoon bath.
Her young are almost ready to fly.

I see them (male and female) flying all day to and fro to the bird box.

I expect the young to be ready tomorrow or the day after.

Oh, and here is the male having a break for his bath, in between feeding the young.

 

Gold finches

 Everyday, last week, there are a couple of goldfinches, (carduelis carduelis, distelvink, putter) having a bath in my birdbath!

I greatly enjoy them. They are so colorful with a red face and yellow feathers.
They are so beautiful!

Bull finches

 The bull finches (goudvinken) are around again in my garden. 

Having a bath in my birdbath every day and even two or three times a day. 

They are such beautiful stunning birds. Once you've seen a bullfinch, you will never forget them. 

The male looks like a candystick in his pink-orangy colors. Here he is watching in a branch, while she is having a bath.

This morning I heard him sing, which was as well so beautiful.

Little wren

The smallest of the smallest, having a bath. 

He is so quick and cute.

Flycatchers

 The flycatchers have been inspecting several nest boxes. 

Here you see the female and the male do close inspection, to see if this is the one.

However I did not see them for several days around this nest box. It might be that they decided to pick another one.

Flycatcher

 There is lots of activity around the birdhouses.
The flycatcher is chasing away all the coal-tits and the blue-tits who also are looking and having inspection for a nesting place.
The flycatcher is constantly chasing them away, though there are enough birdhouses in my garden.
I pity the coal-tits and blue-tits and even wanted to interfere...But I thought that the birds can do that for themselves and let go.
It looked like that the female flycatcher has arrived as well, but not really sure.

I hope for him the get it all settled.

Flycatcher back!

 Yesterday and as well this morning, I was thinking...It must be time for the arrival of the Flycather, coming all the way from Africa to have his nestbuilding-time here!
I was thinking how he was earlier last year and maybe  he would be on its way somewhere flying above Spain or France.

I was just having my morning-coffee, when all of a sudden I saw a bird chasing away some other birds...
And yes! No doubt about it...there he was again! same behavior as all other times...making space and defending his territory.

Later I was able to capture a few photo's. 

When checking, when he arrived last year, that I noticed him it was on April 3. 

Click here, to see are all the posts, when he arrived in previous years