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The Highlights of June 2025

June is not exactly the most thrilling month for birdwatchers. Migration has pretty much come to a halt—there’s still some movement, but compared to the spectacle of May, it feels rather uneventful. Personally, I even find June one of the slowest months of the year. I’m not too fascinated by fledglings, and after the excitement of May it’s a bit of a letdown to see the same species, in the same numbers, day after day in my local patches.

But luckily, June has its silver linings! With little risk of missing out on rarities, it’s the perfect time to focus on specific species, or to spend a day in a hide without feeling restless. And, of course, it’s a great moment to turn attention to the Netherlands’ most thrilling mammal: the Wolf.

June 14: No Wolf, but a Stag!

At a quarter past five in the morning on June 14, I found myself at a parking lot in the Veluwe. To see Wolves, you have to be early! Honestly, it’s too early for a drive from Zeeland, which makes it hard for me to go Wolf watching on a regular basis. Zeeland isn’t a bad province for a nature enthusiast, but I would have loved more opportunities to encounter Wolves. After about three hours of walking I hadn’t found one. Luckily, I had prepared an alternative: the largest beetle in the Netherlands, the European Stag Beetle!

I had never seen a stag beetle before, and that had to change. Thanks to a tip, I already had an idea of where to look, but things went even quicker than I expected. On my way back I ran into someone else who had also been looking for Wolves and pointed out a beautiful male stag beetle on the road. I immediately dropped to my knees to shoot photos from a low angle.

European Stag Beetle

The beetle wasn’t moving very fast. At some point, he decided it would be a good idea to take flight from the road into the forest. After all it is sometimes called a flying stag! Yet, with the sometimes typical clumsiness of male stag beetles, he managed to land on his back every single time. Sometimes he righted himself, but we gave him a hand as well. In the end, he crawled safely into the forest.

European Stag Beetle

Thanks to the beetle’s antics, I ended up with a really fun photo series! I haven’t seen many pictures of stag beetles in flight. It was a fantastic first encounter with this special species.

At another place, I came across a dead Common Cockchafer or May Beetle on the path—beautifully glossy, but already being dismantled piece by piece by European Red Wood Ants. Since I’ve always been a fan of ants (there’s always action in the frame) and also find May Beetles quite stunning, I spent about an hour photographing the scene. I was quite happy with the result.

Common Cockchafer with European Red Wood Ants (Formica polyctena)

Further on, I found another male stag beetle clinging to a tree. That’s the way most people see them, and I captured a more ‘classic’ image of the species.

European Stag Beetle

So in the end, my visit to the Veluwe wasn’t in vain, and I drove home satisfied.

June 3: A Rosy Starling surprise

June migration may be quiet, but not quite over. Proof came in the form of a Rosy Starling near Biggekerke. Reported on waarneming.nl, and showing nearly adult summer plumage, it was well worth the chase. I decided to go straight away. When I arrived, the reported location turned out to be wrong, but Lenn van de Zande had already relocated the bird a little further along. I joined him and admired the Rosy Starling in a cherry tree.

Rosy Starling

Soon after, the bird flew off. Eventually, Mayro Pattikawa relocated it on the roof of a farm a few kilometers away, where it was easy to observe among a large flock of Common Starlings.

Rosy Starling with Common Starlings

In the end, the bird wasn’t quite the hoped-for full adult, but with its second-calendar-year plumage it came close. At least it was far more rosy than the birds I once saw at Katwijk and Texel—those were still in their first year, without even a hint of pink.

June 16–17: Black Guillemot at Borssele

The birding highlight of the month, however, was a Black Guillemot. I also saw the rare Woodchat Shrike, though I didn’t manage photos of that one. This guillemot had already been seen before, but I thought it was too far out at the time. Now it showed heavily worn plumage. Not the most handsome, perhaps, but still stunning in black! Those worn feathers were probably the reason it regularly hauled itself out onto shore to rest. It even showed some of that typical tameness for the species.

I had seen some great photos from others and, living nearby, I went in the evening. The bird was already swimming close to shore, and with a few other photographers I managed a nice series. Unfortunately, I had packed two nearly empty batteries, giving me just half an hour of shooting—but it was enough!

Black Guillemot

I did notice, though, that a large number of photographers reduced my chances of photographing the bird up close on land. So the next morning, before work, I returned at sunrise. At first, the bird drifted far offshore. After an hour of waiting, however, it came closer and closer.

Black Guillemot

Finally, the moment I had hoped for arrived: the bird climbed onto land! The battered wings didn’t look great in photos, but those bright red legs and the deep black head more than made up for it. The bird sat calmly for a while, I captured some lovely shots, and then it returned to the water.

Black Guillemot

A perfect start to the day!

June 7 & 21: Days in the hides of Glenn Vermeersch

I had developed a taste for visiting the bird hides of Glenn Vermeersch. Hide photography isn’t for everyone, and I personally feel that the opportunities for truly unique shots are limited. Birds often perch on the typical weathered branches that have been placed there, making it instantly obvious that the picture was taken from a hide. Still, spending a day in a comfortable hide deep in the forest is already an enjoyable experience in itself for me. And with some creative effort it’s definitely possible to get interesting photos—the animals themselves always provide the greatest surprises!

June 7: H8

Early in the month, I visited H8, a hide located in the heart of a forest, making typical woodland birds possible. I was especially hoping for Eurasian Goshawk. It had been extremely dry for days, which is usually good for hide activity, but of course my day started with rain. Typical. My visit to H7 in May also coincided with rain—bad luck during what’s considered an unusually dry period.

Luckily the gloom didn’t last long, because suddenly a Middle Spotted Woodpecker landed on the tree in front of the hide! I had never photographed this species properly, so this was a very welcome surprise.

Middle Spotted Woodpecker with Great Spotted Woodpecker

Middle Spotted Woodpecker

At H8, a dead domestic pigeon is placed to attract raptors. Not the most natural way to see a bird of prey with its kill, but better than nothing. I had already seen that buzzards frequently came to feed, but this time I got lucky—it was a beautiful female Eurasian Goshawk! She suddenly appeared around a bend, and I was happy with the series and the chance to study this magnificent raptor up close.

Eurasian Goshawk

Later in the day, a Common Buzzard also came to pick at the pigeon.

Common Buzzard

I also spent time trying flight shots of Hawfinches. Not easy, but I managed a few results I was pleased with.

Hawfinch

A Eurasian Red Squirrel dropped by too, and it was fun watching a young Great Spotted Woodpecker beg for food in front of the hide. I even got a nice atmospheric shot of it in the rain.

Eurasian Red Squirrel

Great Spotted Woodpecker

June 21: H2

At H2 I finally visited a hide under perfect conditions! It had been bone-dry for days and very warm that day. I could immediately see the effect on the birds’ behavior.

A Goldcrest, for instance, came all the way down from the canopy to drink at the pool.

Goldcrest

A Spotted Flycatcher also came for a drink.

Spotted Flycatcher

The tits made grateful use of the water. Great Tits and Blue Tits are always present, but Crested Tits appeared too—and even a Coal Tit! I got a few flight shots I was quite satisfied with.

Great Tit

Blue Tit

Crested Tit

Coal Tit

Of course, the Eurasian Red Squirrel also made an appearance.

Eurasian Red Squirrel

As expected, activity dropped noticeably as the morning wore on. By midday, hardly any birds came to drink, apart from the occasional young Great Spotted Woodpecker. Still, I stayed put—you never know when things can suddenly change!

I did notice the pond was full of frogs. With nothing better to do, I took some photos of them resting in the water. Not very exciting—until I realized they were actively hunting insects above the water surface. At first, their jumps seemed random, but there was indeed a strategy! Sometimes they went after each other, but often after insects.

When they were chasing each other, it was easy to capture some nice shots because they jumped more often. But an attack on a fly or hoverfly usually happened just once, in a fraction of a second. Then it could take a long time before the same frog had another target in sight.

Green frog (spec.)

At first I focused on tracking individual frogs, using the R1’s pre-capture function—but with little success. Not a single shot with prey as I envisioned it. So I switched strategy: instead of the frogs, I followed every insect above the pond. There weren’t that many, and it worked! I noticed that frogs tried to catch every insect that briefly settled on the water—and often succeeded.

Green frog (spec.) with hoverflies and flies

After a few hours of trying, I ended up with a series that actually contained some very interesting photos! I hadn’t expected this at all, but secretly, these turned out to be my favourite shots of the month.

Green frog (spec.) with hoverflies and flies

As evening fell, my patience was rewarded with one more avian surprise: a gorgeous male Eurasian Sparrowhawk perched on the pond’s edge! Sadly, he stayed only briefly—perhaps startled by his own reflection in de glass of de hide. An hour later, I got a second chance. This time he lingered, and I managed some lovely close-up portraits.

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

He still didn’t feel entirely at ease and flew off after a short while without drinking.

I stayed until sunset, with little more activity—except for my frogs.

Green frog (spec.)

By the time I walked back, all my camera batteries were dead. I had spent about 14 hours in the hide: a very long day, but a very rewarding one! This was also the day I experimented with recording a vlog, which you can watch below.

This experiment was part of preparing for my upcoming trip. On July 19, I leave for Uganda! I’m very excited—nothing beats Africa! In the run-up to the holiday I don’t have many plans, so I don’t expect to write a separate highlights post, but who knows—I may still be surprised! In any case, Uganda will undoubtedly provide some very special stories.