You sometimes see them in the landscape, but they are rarely inhabited. Dovecotes. Nature photographer Machiel de Vos (87) from Havelte has a small fascination for it. In fact, he wants to immortalize all the dovecotes in the Netherlands for posterity.
De Vos has been a nature photographer for decades and captured all kinds of critters, flowers and landscapes with his camera all over the world. “I have always photographed dovecotes for pleasure. I have now photographed so much that my website receives a huge number of visitors, especially for dovecotes.”
And dovecotes is a collective name, because in addition to the traditional lifts you also have pigeon towers, attics, gates and lofts. Keeping pigeons used to be a privilege for large landowners. They kept the pigeons in pens for their meat.
For example, at Dickninge Estate in De Wijk. There is a large wooden dovecote with roof tiles on it. “Look how nice that was for those pigeons. In the middle of the country where they could fly out freely to look for food and a sheltered place where they could breed.”
Watch here how De Vos captures the dovecote in De Wijk: