The Hague, 15 June 2020 – The Dutch dunes and coastal regions are a breeding ground for a large portion of Dutch breeding birds. There, you will also find bird species that occur virtually nowhere else in the Netherlands. The stamps from the “Experience nature” series, published today, give everyone the opportunity to marvel at 10 beautiful but endangered coastal birds.
4 issues in 2020
The 10
Experience nature - coastal birds stamps feature the following coastal birds: little tern, Arctic skua, ruddy turnstone, snow bunting, black-legged kittiwake, great black-backed gull, shore lark, pied avocet, purple sandpiper and Kentish plover. Earlier this year, PostNL published stamps featuring birds of prey and owls (2 January) and farmland birds (24 February). The last set of bird-related stamps issued by PostNL in 2020 will feature forest and heathland birds (14 September). An individual Experience Nature stamp sheetlet costs € 9.10. The price for the full 2020 series is € 36.40, including the storage folder.
The golden summer sun
The stamps with the 10 different coastal birds were designed by graphic designer Frank Janse from Gouda. Because the stamps will be published in summer, the yellow of the beach and the dunes, the deep-blue skies and the golden colour of the summer sun dominate the picture. Janse: “I looked for pictures with these colours. I didn’t have to do anything with the colours, they were already there. The strong background colours contrast beautifully with the markings on the birds, which are mainly white, black and grey, with a few yellow and red accents on the shore lark and the snow bunting.”
The Red List
The stamps feature species of birds that are having a particularly difficult time. Most of them are on the Dutch Red List of breeding birds in the Netherlands or on the Dutch Red List of migratory birds/winter visitors in the Netherlands. Stephan van den Eijnden, commercial director Mail of PostNL explains that the situation isn’t exactly rosy for the birds in our country: The Dutch Red List of breeding birds includes 87 bird species, or 44 percent of all species that breed in the Netherlands. Ten species are critically endangered, such as the short-eared owl and the little bittern.”
A variety of species
Coastal birds can be divided into breeding birds, overwintering birds and passage birds, which visit our coasts during their annual migration. The stamps feature a variety of species, from the imposing great black-backed gull to the diminutive snow bunting, the songbird that breeds the furthest north of all. Designer Janse used to see most of the coastal birds on the stamp sheet in his youth. “In my youth the great black-backed gull was one of my favourites. It’s got such a distinctive head and makes these typical whining noises. They’re huge animals and pretty impressive.”
Availability
The
Experience nature - coastal birds stamp sheetlet consists of ten different stamps marked with ‘Nederland 1’, the denomination for items up to 20g in weight destined for mail in the Netherlands. The stamps are available from 15 June 2020 from all PostNL sales points, the post office counter in Bruna stores and online at
www.postnl.nl/bijzondere-postzegels. The stamps can also be ordered by phone from the Collect Club customer service on telephone number +31 (0)88 - 868 99 00. The validity period is indefinite.
