ambient fens Kampina National Park Netherlands 1 pm 260317_0084

Ambience at fens in early spring March. Kogelvangersven, Kampina in the Netherlands in March.

About the picture
You are looking out over a quiet, natural fens on the Kampinaheide in the Netherlands, known as Kogelvangersven.
Before you lies a wide stretch of water with small ripples. The water looks cool and greyish due to the cloudy sky above.
At the front of the scene stand tall, dry reeds, purple moor grass and tufts of grass. They are light brown in colour. They form a rugged edge along the water. Around the fen you see low, marshy vegetation: bushes, grass and here and there a bare tree or a tree with thin branches. The trees are scattered, not close together. On the horizon runs a strip of dark trees that frames the landscape. Above them hangs a sky full of clouds: large, soft, white and grey clouds. The first patches of blue sky are visible on the horizon.

Birds detected by Merlin Bird ID app ver 3.8.2.
Birds detected by BirdNET-Analyser (GUI ver. 2.4.0 Model ver. V2.4) sensitivity 1.09.
https://birdnet.cornell.edu/api/ ; (BirdNET_GLOBAL_6K_V2.4)I cannot guarantee results.
Common Chiffchaff #0:14 #0:34 #0:52
Lesser spotted Woodpecker #0:26 #0:56
Mallard #0:00 #0:27 #0:44 #0:56
Great Spotted Woodpecker #0:14 #0:20 #0:26 #0:33 #0:38 #0:42
Long-tailed Tit #0:18 #0:28 – 0:41
Greylag Goose #0:00 – 0:18

More track recorded here / All tracks around here during the years
More tracks around here on the MAP
About the Kampina area;
De Kampina is a varied nature reserve with extensive heathland, pine forests and many fens and is now part of the new Van Gogh National Park nature reserve.
Centrally, the large Kampinase Heide is adorned by numerous fens such as the Belversven; more sheltered, in the north-east corner of the area, are the Huisvennen and these Zandbergsvennen, where we are now standing, which are particularly rich in dragonfly species. Over the heathland, the call of the curlew can be heard (but not now). The heath is here and there peaty and has special species like lavender heath. Extensive (planted) pine forests lie especially on the northern and eastern sides.

All the fens in the Kampina have dried out tremendously. At this time of year, the pond should contain much more water than you can see in the photo. This is due to the change in weather. It rains too little in the Netherlands. We used to have to do our best to drain all the water here. Now we have to do our best to retain the water in the ground. We are going to raise the water level in ditches and canals in the area. The land will have to become wetter which will make farmers grow other crops. Hopefully then this beautiful national park will start looking better again.

Date/time: March 17, 2026, 1:00 pm

Weather: 12 ºc, clouds 90 %, ZW ZZW 19-28 km/h, 1020 hPa, humidity 65-77%, visibility 28-40 km, dew point 8 ºc, cloud ceiling 600 m

Location; fens Kogelvangersven, Kampina, Van Gogh Nationaal Park, Boxtel, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands (Holland), Europe. GPS 51.57848 5.27170

Gear chain: Sennheiser mkh30/50 MS with pointed NW, in Rycote cyclone small, windjammer > Tascam FR-AV2. Noise floor ~40 dB, Post editing: Decoded Mid-side to STEREO. EQ correction for the blimp and limiter on -3 dB when necessary.

Original MS-track 96/24 available for motivated pro's and artists.

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