Menno van Duijn guided Kevin (all photos by Kevin Bartlett) for a morning tour in the area of The Hague, Menno reports:
It's five in the morning when I pick up Kevin in Scheveningen. It's mid summer and Bird Photography is a challenge. Most have finished breeding and this results in a worn plumage and less activity especially later in the morning.
Therefore we start before sunrise and re-visit the sites as the week before. As we walk up to the spot for the Little Bittern the male comes flying in. He lands in top of the reed from where he starts calling for minutes allowing us to photograph it, a fantastic start.
After a while he climbs down the reed. We wait for almost two hours but only see the female feeding the fledgelings on the other side of the lake. We head to the Little Owl but despite the perfect sunny conditions we can't find the owl.
At Zoetermeer we have good photo opportunities with Yellow Wagtails and Reed Buntings perched on top of red color plants while scouting for insects to catch. By that time the light is getting harder and temperature rises quickly so we head back after a nice summer morning.
