Ameland engels - Naturephotography.eu fotografie van en informatie over de natuur.

Ameland:

The trip:

On monday afternoon we took the boat from Holwerd and on friday afternoon we left the island again. So we had 3, almost 4 day's to explore the island. We predominantly used our bikes to visit every far corner of the island from the Oerd in the east till near the lighthouse in the west. Although for the most part it was overcast and windy the weather wasn't all that bad overall.

The island:

There are 4 villages situated on the island, Hollum on the far west side, then Ballum, Nes and finally Burum in the east. On the west side the island is the broadest with a wide beach with some large furrows, this beach is still widening. The western side is fairly narrow and almost ends in a pointed way. It almost sollely consists of sanddunes. On the north side the island is protected against the sea by a broad row of sanddunes in front of which a beach is situated. The south side keeps the water at bay by a manmade dike which is directly adjacent to The Wadden area. On the southside of the island there are still a lot of farmers active, that's why this side largely consists of grasslands. North of this area you'll find a broad row of sanddunes with shrubs and dunevalleys with salt-marshes. On the west side of the island there are some small patches of heath and a bit further west near the lighthouse there is a small pineforest like there are two small ones near Nes. The island is completely focussed on tourisme, there are a host of holliday residents and hotels and the building is still going on (one of the negative sides of tourism). Although there are a lot of these developments going on, the hearts of the villages and the sanddune areas have still retained their authenticity.

What's there to be seen:

I will refrain myself from giving a complete list by only stating the species we saw in this short period of time, but ofcourse, depending upon the seasons, such a list would be very lengthy (it already is).

Birds:

Carrion crow, jackdaw, turtle-dove, great tit, blue tit, pheasant, herring-gull, lesser black-backed gull, ruddy-turnstone, sanderling, knot, eider, goldeneye, little grebe, grey herron, mute swan, egyptian goose, shelduck, wigeon, mallard, gadwall, northern pintail, kestrel, coot, ringed plover, lapwing, redshank, blackheaded gull, stock dove, collared dove, woodpigeon, great spotted woodpecker, meadow pipit, wren, hedge-sparrow, robin, song thrush, goldcrest, starling, magpie, rook, sparrow, chaffinch, snow bunting, siskin, barnacle goose, brent goose, oystercatcher, northern harrier, buzzard, blackbird, greylag goose, curlew,

Mammals:

Seal, roe, rabbit, hare.

Plants:

We didn't particularly look out for plants that much, besides they aren't very abbundant arround februari anyway, but still: sea buckthorn, bog myrtle, marram grass, reed, pine trees, burnet rose. Further on in the season there is much more to be seen amongst which: the notable sea thrift, parnassus, cranberry, etc.

And then there are ofcourse the many shellfish of which predominantly the pod razor shell and the small banded-wedge shells were to be seen on mass on the beach, more towards the sea there were stretches with gapers.