2025

Our friends from Kenya were visiting the Netherlands, so of course we planned a weekend to go herping together. Mirthe and Ferry already had a busy week of sight-seeing behind them, but this weekend we tried to find some early amphibians and reptiles in the north of the Netherlands. Despite the strong wind, we were blessed with some amazing spring weather and without much effort we could observe four Adders (Vipera berus), four Grass Snakes (Natrix helvetica), a Moor Frog (Rana arvalis) and multiple Viviparous Lizards (Zootoca vivipara). Also birds were present and we had distant views of Eurasian Crane (Grus grus) and much better looks at a White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla). At another location we also saw some Smooth Newts (Lissotriton vulgaris). The latter was of course a highlight, because despite the massive biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa, there are no urodeles there. We had some fine Dutch dining with kroketten, frikandellen en fries and found a nice place to sleep nearby. The next morning we set out once more and saw several additional Smooth Newts and even an Alpine Newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris). It took quite some time, but then Ferry finally found the other reptile species we were hoping to find and spotted a beautiful female Slow Worm (Anguis fragilis). That concluded a super nice get-together as we sadly had to part ways again. It was super nice seeing you guys in the Netherlands and hopefully we see each other soon in Africa again! 

We didn't have much time either before having to drive back to Noord-Holland, but we had a quick visit at another nearby moor. Soon we heard hundreds of bubbling sounds coming from the moor and knew we were very lucky to be on the right time here. We saw dozens of bright blue Moor Frogs (Rana arvalis) males sitting between the high grass and that is something I haven't seen in quite a while! Photographing was tricky (and came at a price), but it was amazing to see these beautiful amphibians again.