Forester Erik Jansen (part 2)
Forester Erik Jansen already told in part 1 how special living and working in the beautiful National Park is. This time, he celebrates spring:
That bird is happy!
'Suddenly there he is again: the song thrush. It is mid-February and I am taking my daughter Isolde to nursery school. Above our heads, in a tall elm tree on Langestreek, the bird is singing at the top of its lungs. Isolde has heard it too: ‘That bird is happy, daddy,’ I hear her say on the back of the bike.
springtime is coming
For me, the song thrush marks the beginning of spring. Wrens sing throughout the winter and cabbage and blue tits sometimes find it spring-like enough for a song in December too. But when the song thrush starts singing, you often see other signs of a fast-approaching spring in the village. The grove near Herberg Rijsbergen then soon looks white with snowdrops. A week later, hundreds of lilac crocuses bloom on the village lawns, followed in March by bright yellow trumpet daffodils
Spring arrives later on the island than on the mainland
In the dunes and salt marsh, it takes a little longer for spring to get going. Along the dune paths, the white starlets of the early spring bloom in March, but they are so small that most walkers and cyclists do not notice them. On the salt marsh, you won't find the first flowers until early May. Due to the influence of the cool seawater, nature on Schiermonnikoog lags far behind the mainland in spring. The birches here do not come into leaf until a month later than in the south of the country. When, years ago, I still lived in Brabant, I always had the impression during a spring visit to Schiermonnikoog that I had travelled back in time. Plants that had long finished flowering in the south were only just coming into bloom on the island.
Some birds are in spring mood
The birds do not participate in late spring. On a bike ride in March, you will find birds in high spring mood everywhere. In the reed beds around the Westerplas, the first spoonbills land. On the beach, lesser black-backed gulls greet each other enthusiastically again. The males and females spent the winter apart in Southern Europe or North Africa and are now seeing each other again. On the salt marsh, the skylarks seem to be engaged in their own version of The Voice of Schiermonnikoog. Spring is jubilant everywhere.
My top 3 from the island
And that is just the beginning. In April and May, spring thunders on. Every week, new migratory birds return from their winter quarters. The dune valleys look more like alpine meadows every day. I find the best places to experience island spring in our National Park:
- Flowering bulbous plants in the village. Gardens, parks and public gardens are full of snowdrops, crocuses, star hyacinths and daffodils. Best time: March
- The bird-watching hut at Westerplas: courtship ducks and singing bluethroats. Best time: April
- The Arnica meadow (a valley along the Reddingsweg / old Rescue Road): full of dark purple orchids, pale pink cuckoo flower orchid and haggard white bog fluff. Best time: May'
Written in March 2016