2693) Experience Nature - Skrok and Skrins Nature Reserves located in the province of Friesland: "Experience Nature 2021-2023 Perennial Series": A set of Stamps issued by PostNL (Netherlands Post) featuring the Flora & Fauna of the Nature Reserves: Date of Stamp Set issue: 13.02.2023:
While the focus was on various animal and plant species in the period from (2018 to 2020), in (2021-2023) the focus is on unique Dutch Nature Reserves and their flora and fauna.
The 13.02.2023 issue highlights the residents of the grasslands of Skrok and Skrins in the Greidhoek in Friesland.
About Experience Nature - Skrok and Skrins Nature Reserves:
The Skrok and Skrins Stamp Sheet is part of the "Experience Nature 2021-2023 Perennial Series".
In the series, four stamp sheets are issued every year, each comprising ten different stamps.
The stamps feature images of plants and animals in unique Dutch Nature Reserves across the country.
In 2023, it is the turn of the provinces of Flevoland, Friesland, Overijssel and Noord-Brabant.
The Experience Nature – Skrok and Skrins issue focusses on the Grasslands of the Skrok and Skrins Nature Reserves, located in the province of Friesland.
The stamp sheet issued earlier this year (02.01.2023) featured Marker Wadden in Flevoland.
Stamp sheets featuring the Wieden in Overijssel (12.06.2023) and the Oisterwijkse Bossen en Vennen in North Brabant (24.08.2023) will be published later this year.
The Skrok and Skrins Nature Reserves are located in the Greidhoek:
This region in Friesland is known for its vast meadow landscape scattered with grasslands and terps.
The meadows in these Nature Reserves are a favourite habitat for meadow birds such as golden plover, black-tailed godwit, lapwing, pied avocet and common redshank.
Skrok and Skrins are Bird Reserves owned by Natuurmonumenten and are each about 100 hectares in size.
Visitors can observe the meadow birds and migratory birds from the bird hide at the Swyns pond. The hut is accessible from an old mass path from the hamlet of Skrok.
Natuurmonumenten keeps Skrok and Skrins wet, making them ideal feeding and resting areas for many bird species.
Skrins, which is a similar nature reserve to Skrok, lies in an old estuary that was reclaimed during the Middle Ages.
The area consists of wet ditches and convex fields. In some places, salt water still reaches the surface, causing unusual plants such as seaside arrowgrass and brass button to grow there.
From January to May, Natuurmonumenten floods a large part of Skrins, which attracts large numbers of geese and thousands of golden plovers, which also benefit. The Skrins bird hide is situated between Hinnaard and the hamlet of Skrins.
They are both special areas – old farmland that has been farmed for hundreds of years.
In the late 1980s, Skrok and Skrins were both acquired by Natuurmonumenten as part of land consolidation.
While agriculture on the surrounding meadows has been significantly stepped up, Skrok and Skrins are still as they used to. They have ditches, fields, grasslands full of flowers and lots of meadow birds.
The Stamp Sheet:
On 13.02.2023, PostNL has released the "Experience Nature - Skrok and Skrins issue - a Sheet of ten stamps in ten different designs. The denomination on these stamps is ‘1’, the denomination for items weighing up to 20g destined for the Netherlands.
The ten residents of this Nature Reserve featured on the "Experience Nature – Skrok and Skrins" stamps are the Hare, Common Redshank, Sea Milkwort, Golden Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Pied Avocet, Lapwing, Water-horsetail, Brass-button and Ruff. They play the starring role on their stamps.
The stamp sheet also features many more images of typical flora and fauna from this area.
The following are shown as monochrome images in a separate graphic layer: Water-horsetail (top right), Flowering-rush (top centre), Lapwing (just above centre left), Brass-button (just above centre right), Golden-plover (centre left), Hare (bottom left) and Sea-milkwort (bottom centre and right).
The Experience Nature – Skrok and Skrins stamp sheet was designed by graphic designer Frank Janse from Gouda.
On the Sheet, the ten plants and animals are depicted in their natural environment, each on their own stamp.
In some cases, the image or background colour continues onto the adjacent stamp and onto the sheet edge.
All photos are incorporated in a graphic layer of different-sized overlapping circles, which break through the boundaries of the perforations.
The circle pattern returns as small droplets on the sheet edge and the tabs.
There is another graphic layer on top of the circles featuring monochrome images of animals and plants from this area. These images are almost abstract cross the perforations and connect the stamps to each other.
For the typography, Janse used his own font, which he designed especially for the Experience Nature Stamp Series.
The font, which consists of tiny circles, was given the name "Fdot".
The explanatory texts on the sheet edge are set in capitals in the TT Milks Light and Demibold (2017, Ivan Gladkikh for Typetype).
In the text, the designer has creatively expressed his associations with the names, features and appearance of the plants and animals depicted, adding a touch of humour.
Two First Day Covers (FDCs) have been issued, both bearing five stamps each. The special Cancellation Handstamp/Postmark bears the image of a hare in the centre. The Cancellation is dated - "13.02.2023".
Two Presentation Packs (PP) have been issued in the set.
Technical details:
Issue Date: 13.02.2023
Designer: Frank Janse, Gouda
Printer: Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé B.V., Haarlem
Process: Offset
Colours: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK)
Size(s):
Stamp size: 40.00 mm x 30.00 mm,
Sheet size: 122.00 mm x 170.00 mm
For other interesting posts on issues from the Royal Dutch Mint, Netherlands and PostNL, please visit the following links:
For interesting posts from the Caribbean Netherlands on this blog:
Posts on SEPAC issues on this blog:
Posts on Finland on this Blog:
Posts on Sweden:
Dutch Castles Coin Series:
Links:
The undernoted two links will take you to our blog "Footloose" for two interesting posts written by me on the Dutch presence in Sadras in the 17th Century AD:
5) City of Bruges (or Brugge), Belgium: 20 Years as UNENCO World Heritage Site: A 20 Euro Silver Proof Coin issued by the Royakl Dutch Mint under licencing of the Royal Belgian Mint, on behalf of the National Bank of Belgium: Coin issue date: 26.02.2020
6) 100 Years of Nature & Environment Protection, Luxembourg: Commemorating the Centenary Anniversary of the "Letzebuerger Natur a Vulleschutsliga a.s.b.l. (Luxembourg Nature and Bird Protection Society):A 0.80 Euro Stamp issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Date of stamp issue: 10.03.2020
7) Celebrating 25 Years of listing on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Luxembourg: A Commemorative Stamp of 0.80 Euro issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Stamp issue date: 10.03.2020
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DeleteSantosh Khanna has commented:
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