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Young Ekster lives in a conifer, but it is cut down, can the young magpie survive this?
Wilma van Gurp has been a young magpie since February last year. The animal looks a bit dull, but he has been living in a large conifer for a year now. Wilma previously called the animal protection asking if they could remove the magpie, but the answer was at the time that the bird itself would go away.
Unfortunately, that did not happen, but now that conifer has to be felled, so Wilma wonders what to do. Frans’s advice would be to call again with the animal protection with this new story and also to tell about the petrified environment. Perhaps they now respond differently. If the animal protection does not like that, then Frans thinks the bird is trying to survive somewhere else.
Who is the perpetrator?
Ulrich Marijnissen saw a pigeon on the roof of his car that was eaten for a single part. Remains of those pigeon lay between the wall and the car and he wonders who the perpetrator is. That is a difficult question for French, because he does not know what kind of environment Ulrich lives in. He also can’t see what the picked feathers look like. For example, if the feathers are cool, so with the point still, or if the feathers are bitten out, the point is no longer there. In the event that the springs are cool, it should be a bird of prey and if the feathers are bitten out, the perpetrator is a mammal.
Yet Frans dares to take a gamble and from the minimum description he thinks of a mammal and therefore not of a bird of prey. It has certainly not been a fox, because they don’t climb on cars. A house cat can be the perpetrator, but they often do not eat their prey on an elevation. That is why Frans thinks of a marty, but then there are several contenders. Namely a tie, stone and tree marten, polecat and ermine. The best chance of a stone marten, especially in view of the place where the prey was eaten.
Day paws spotted
Wil Donkers saw the first daily pauwoog in Heerle flying the sunlight. Frans also received reports that plenty of lemon butterflies have been spotted. Want wrote that she had seen a young day pawoer, but that can’t be right. The daily pauw eyes and also lemon butterflies are old butterflies that have hibernated somewhere.
Day paws often sit on dry, somewhat dark, but certainly cool and sheltered spots. That can be in a shed, an old storage place, but also a hollow tree. Lemon butterflies, usually the first butterflies flying after the winter period, are looking for dense vegetation. That can be in dense blackberry bush, but rather in ivy or holly bushes. If there is no dense vegetation nearby, they crawl into grass pollen as close to the bottom. When the temperature exceeds ten degrees with a lot of sun, the fluttering paintings appear from their wintering places.
SECTION Beautiful photos
One of the most beautiful females in the plant world is the female flower of the hazel. These are already in bloom in February. The photo was taken by Ruut Aussems, he mentions the hazelers with a wink ‘forest spunkers’.
Below you can see a photo of a flowering male and females hazel. The male parts just hang something.
Natural tip: NK Maasheggenvlegende 2025
Sunday March 9 from 11:00 am – 4:30 pm
Maasheggen
The mosaic of hedges, meadows, drinking pools and old knot trees is wonderful to see and offers space for a special variation of plant and animal species. The hedges are still functional: they keep cattle inside and predators outside. You can see that culture and nature have been intertwined for centuries in the same way and on such a large scale for centuries, in few other places in the Netherlands.
It is already the nineteenth edition of this event in which the cultural landscape of the Maasheggen is central. While teams from home and abroad do everything to get the coveted Golden Hiep with their braid, you can stroll around the site. See how the teams slowly but surely turn the hedges from long swing to beautifully braided hedges. Walk past the stalls with regional products or nature education, and learn more about the area. Brabants Landschap is also present with a demonstration team of the Karthuizerflechtstijl and with a competition team.
Program on Sunday, March 9
• 9 am: Meeting of the braids
• 10.00 am: start of the competition
• 11 am: Event open to the public
• 3 p.m.
• 4 p.m.
More information:
• Departure place Portaal de Vilt, along the provincial road between Oeffelt and Boxmeer.
• Parking space on the spot (but come by bike as much as possible).
• Wear clothing that matches the weather.
• Put on good running shoes.
