2877) Experience Nature - De Wieden Nature Reserves located in the province of Overijssel: "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: 12.06.2023:
About Experience Nature - De Wieden:
On 12.06.2023, PostNL has issued the "Experience nature – De Wieden" 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 stamp sheet about De Wieden is part of the multi-annual Experience nature 2021-2023 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 – De Wieden issue of 12.06.2023 focusses on the peat bog of Nature Reserve De Wieden, located in the province of Overijssel.
The stamp sheets issued earlier this year (02.01.2023) featured Marker Wadden in Flevoland and Strok en Skrins in Friesland (13.02.2023).
On 24.08.2023, the last stamp sheet in the series will be issued, which will be about the Oisterwijkse Bossen en Vennen in North Brabant.
Peat bog De Wieden: is an area that covers over 6,000 hectares in the Kop van Overijssel.
The Nature Reserve is part of the Weerribben-Wieden National Park.
De Wieden is owned by Natuurmonumenten.
Within the National Park, Natuurmonumenten works closely together with Staatsbosbeheer (the Forestry Commission), which owns the Weerribben.
De Wieden owes its name to its distinctive broad lakes (wieden or wijden), including the Belterwijde and the Beulakerwijde.
The wetland character of De Wieden is the result of peat excavations, storms, and the flooding of the Zuiderzee in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Nature Reserve can be visited by open tour boat from the visitor centre in Sint Jansklooster and other locations.
There are also paths for walkers and cyclists through the greenery and along the water. In the middle of De Wieden, the water tower of Sint Jansklooster offers spectacular views.
The landscape gets its unique character from the combination of the large open waters of De Wieden with small pools and winding ditches and canals.
As is the case in all peat bogs, open water, moorlands, floating mats, reed beds, fenlands, shrublands and swamp forests alternate.
They are home to many rare plant species, including the meadow thistle, tawny sedge, devil’s bit, and slender cottongrass. The abundance of water makes De Wieden popular with large fish-eaters such as the cormorant, osprey, bittern and purple heron. Other unusual birds include the black tern, marsh harrier, barn owl and short-eared owl.
The ten residents of this nature reserve featured on the Experience nature – De Wieden stamps are:
The marsh harrier, small pearl-bordered fritillary, common hawthorn, fringed waterlily, English oak, water rail, blackthorn, barn owl, purple heron and oblong-leaved sundew.
Each has its own stamp.
The stamp sheet also features many more images of flora and fauna typical for this area.
The following are shown as monochrome images in a separate graphic layer:
- oblong-leaved sundew (top right), barn owl (top left), western marsh harrier (just above centre), leaf of the black elder (left of centre and centre), leaf of the English oak (bottom left), small pearl-bordered fritillary (bottom centre) and blackberry (bottom right).
The Experience Nature – De Wieden 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 and extend across the perforations to link the stamps together.
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 the TT Milks Light and Demibold in capitals (2017, Ivan Gladkikh for Typetype).
In the captions, the designer creatively expresses his associations with the names, features and appearance of the plants and animals depicted, adding a touch of humour.
While the focus was on various animal and plant species in the period from 2018 to 2020, in 2021-2023 the focus will be on unique Dutch nature reserves and their flora and fauna.
The 12.06.2023 issue highlights residents and visitors of the lake and marsh landscape of De Wieden in the Kop van Overijssel:
Western Marsh Harrier:
The Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) is a true marsh bird that prefers reedlands.
Of the three species of harriers, the marsh harrier breeds and hunts in the wettest and highest vegetation.
This bird is more slender than the buzzard and has longer and narrower wings and tail.
Adult males have distinctive black wing tips, with grey wing sections and a grey tail. Females are larger, completely brown with a creamy white crest, throat and leading wing edge.
The marsh harrier favours breeding in large, open reedbeds, although it may also choose ditches and is regularly found nesting in arable fields.
Autumn migration is from August-September, extending into October. Spring migration is from late March into May, although young birds may migrate later. The bird usually winters in southern Europe and North Africa, but a small number also winters in the south-west of the Netherlands.
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary:
The small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene) is a rare butterfly found mainly in the kop van Overijssel, in Friesland and on Terschelling.
The top of the wings are mainly orange with black spots and dots. The underside of the hindwing has contrasting marks and all spots on the median band are leather-yellow or silvery. Next to the yellow area on the abdominal margin of the wing is a large round black dot.
The first butterflies appear at the end of April. The population density can be very high, with up to 150 butterflies per hectare.
The butterflies are active throughout the day and feed on nectar from plants such as cuckoo flowers and marsh thistles. Second-generation butterflies have a more varied diet and get their nectar from, for example, purple loosestrifes, water mint and devil’s bits.
Common Hawthorn:
The Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) shows off its beautiful white flowers from April to May. The leaves are deeply lobed and the shrubs bear plenty of sharp thorns.
Humans have been using planted hawthorn hedges as a cattle fence for centuries. In such landscapes, one can sometimes find pruned hawthorns with thick trunks that can be hundreds of years old.
The common hawthorn grows to an average height of 4.5 m, occasionally up to 10 m. The flowers are 0.8-1.5 cm in diameter and the cup-shaped petals partially overlap. After fertilisation, oval fruits of about 10 mm long develop. During ripening, these berries change from green to dark red.
Fringed Water-lily:
The Fringed Water-lily (Nymphoides peltata) is found along the banks of old estuaries, ponds and larger bodies of water with a gradually shallowing bank that may dry up occasionally.
In full summer, one often see a wide fringe of smaller floating leaves with many golden yellow flowers with frills on the petals amongst them.
The circular floating leaves, about 10 cm across, have a heart-shaped node and are attached to the stems by long stolons. They have a somewhat fleshy appearance.
The underwater creeping stolons occur in water up to 1 to 1.5 metres deep but can survive in water between 0.3 and 3 metres deep.
The peduncles hold an inflorescence of two to five flowers with fringed petal margins. Because the inflorescence holds many flowers, it is hardly noticeable that each flower only blooms above the water for one day.
English Oak:
It is easy to recognise an English Oak (Quercus robur) by its broad crown that reaches low to the ground.
The tree can live for centuries and is therefore traditionally planted to indicate the size of a piece of land belonging to a particular owner.
In deciduous forests, the English Oak plays an important role alongside the sessile oak and its family member the beech. The English Oak is easily distinguished from the sessile oak by the two ‘earlobes’ at the base of the leaf where it joins the stalk.
The tree has a broad crown and several large spreading branches at the base of the crown.
It only flowers once every five years, starting at the end of April or in May. After pollination and fertilisation, the flowers grow into acorns that borne in a cup-shaped cupule.
Water Rail:
The Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus) is a rather secretive, rare breeding bird in the Netherlands. It rarely shows itself, but one can hear it.
One can sometimes hear its screams, reminiscent of those of a suckling pig, in marshy areas. Water Rails are dark birds with a long, red bill. They rarely fly when disturbed, preferring to run and hide.
The Water Rail eats frogs, snails, insects, larvae, fish, shrimps, as well as shoots and roots, and even chicks and carrion.
Most Water Rails stay in the Netherlands during winter. Birds from northern and central Europe migrate through here from September to December towards their wintering grounds, some of which are in Britain and Ireland.
Dutch Water Rails that do migrate tend to overwinter in southern Europe, North Africa and even as far as the Black Sea.
Blackthorn:
The first shrub to bloom white in late winter in our countryside is the Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). During that time, the shrub’s striking white blossoms are easy to spot in thickets, hedges, hedgerows and along the edges of woods.
It has long, thornlike spur shoots. After flowering, the shrub produces leaves and from summer until the end of the winter it produces purple-blue sloes with a waxy bloom.
These are edible only after the first frost has passed. The bright white petals are 5-8 mm long.
The word ‘sloe’ comes from Old English ‘slāh’, which is related to Old High German slēha, slēwa, meaning plum.
Blackthorn is one of the ancestors of the plum. It is a true pioneer that can easily expand from the thicket edge into adjacent grassland through its offshoots when grazing is reduced.
Barn Owl:
The Barn Owl (Tyto alba) is an inhabitant of semi-open landscapes, mostly farmland.
It likes to settle in buildings such as barns and church towers. There, it seeks out quiet, dark hidden corners for daytime roosting and nesting.
Barn owls lead a reclusive life and become active after dark to hunt on open grounds for field mice in particular.
They generally stay in one area and are sensitive to winters with prolonged frosts and snow. Barn owls are easy to recognise by their heart-shaped face, the colour of which varies from bright white to brownish white depending on the European subspecies.
The subspecies found in southern Europe and parts of western Europe has a pure white to slightly mottled underside. In the Netherlands, the subspecies with a yellowish-brown, speckled underside is predominant.
Purple Heron:
The Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) is a graceful, attractive-looking heron.
It is darker and slightly smaller but also decidedly slenderer than the familiar grey heron.
In flight, the protruding legs with their long toes are particularly striking.
The purple heron is a marsh dweller and breeds in colonies in marshy, perennial reed beds and in thickets surrounded by old reeds.
It mainly feeds on fish and amphibians, which are caught in shallow open water.
The birds are migratory, and they migrate to West Africa, south of the Sahara. Purple herons are rarer than the common grey heron.
The purple heron has a distinctive brownish-orange neck with black streaks. The male is very similar to the female but tends to be slightly larger on average.
Its elongated feathers have white tips. Juvenile birds are yellowish-brown, and their plumage stays brown until the second year. The bird’s flight is somewhat more erratic than that of the grey heron, and its wing-beats are lighter.
Oblong-leaved Sundew:
Among the natural flora, there is a small number of plant species that grow in very mineral-poor soil, as they rely on catching and digesting small insects to supplement their diet.
The Oblong-leaved Sundew (Drosera intermedia) is one of these carnivorous plant species.
It grows in very specific environments that are often dry in summer but flooded in winter.
The small plants have distinct red-coloured leaves that are arranged in rosettes, with stalked glands covered in droplets. These droplets contain the enzymes that digest the captured prey. The flower stem is curved at the base and emerges laterally from the leaf rosette.
The stem can be up to twice the length of the leaves. While the plant blooms in the summer it forms tall inflorescences that bear three to eight regular white flowers, which are hermaphroditic. After blooming, the plant forms egg-shaped dehiscent seed capsules.
Two First Day Covers (FDCs) affixed with five out of the ten stamps each have been issued. The special Cancellation postmark/handstamp has the image of a leaf and an acorn in the centre. The Cancellation is dated - 12.06.2023".
Two Presentation Packs (PP) have been issued in the set.
Technical details:
Issue Date: 12.06.2023
Designer: Photography: Buiten-Beeld, Design: Frank Janse, Gouda
Printer: Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé B.V., Haarlem
Colours: cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK)
Size:
Stamp size: 40.00 mm x 30.00 mm,
Sheet size: 122.00 mm x 170.00 mm
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Santosh Khanna has commented:
ReplyDelete"A VERY interesting and informative post Thanks for sharing."
Thank you Khanna sahab.
DeleteRajan Trikha has commented:
ReplyDelete"Very interesting post👍"
Thank you so much for visiting this post Trikha sahab.
DeleteRaj Kumar Srivastava has commented:
ReplyDelete"A post which increases one’s knowledge 👍🏻"
Thank you so much, Raj. This stamp series has really travelled across the Netherlands and given us a perspective on the flora and fauna and natural resources of the country.
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