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Wetteren 27-09-2009
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After sunset male Woodcocks start to become active and perform spectacular display flights known as roding. This special flight has slow motion flickering wing beats accompanied by some bizarre noises. The most obvious noise is a high pitched atchoo, like a pixie sneezing (I imagine!). But in the background they make a barely audible guttural rumbling quorr-orr-orr that I can only hear when they fly close. Photographing them isn't easy as the light has gone when they start up, and they never stop moving. The photo is a little grainy but I decided to post as I don't see too many photos of roding Woodcocks on Flickr.
Living all my life in the north I see lots of roding Woodcocks but I notice in the new Bird Atlas that there are huge gaps in its distribution in Wales and the south of England. There seem to be good populations on the southern heathlands (Dorset, Hampshire, Surrey) and in Norfolk. This one was photographed in the Peak District National Park.
Red legged partridge
Zet haar ook eens in het zonnetje!
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Place: Katwijk
Last October, when I rode a bicycle to the beach in Katwijk, I came across this Mitsubishi/Hyundai dealer, where I noticed a bunch of classic Mitsubishis on the first floor. Last Thursday I finally went back to ask if I could take some photos, which was fine. Auto Dijksman started as a bicycle and moped dealer, and became a Ford dealer in 1965 and since 1974 a Mitsubishi dealer, which means it has been an official dealer for 45 years, which probably makes it one of the oldest Mitsubishi dealers in the Netherlands, since Mitsubishi started selling cars in 1975 here. I thought it was a nice opportunity to write a story about Mitsubishi in the Netherlands.
In 1975 Mitsubishi immediately grabbed 0.7% market share, thanks to 3,358 units sold. In 1976 sales more than doubled to 7,521 units (1.5% MS), and sales steadily grew over the years, from 13,350 units (2.4% MS) in 1977, 14,138 (2.4%) in 1978, and probably on its best in 1980, with no less than 4.8% MS (21,544 sales). In 1981 numbers slightly dropped to 18,282 units (4.7% MS), but it climbed further in the rankings, making Mitsubishi the seventh most popular carmaker. These were the heydays for Japanese carmakers in the Netherlands, when European carmakers Opel, Ford, Volkswagen, Renault and Citroën were directly followed by Toyota, Mitsubishi, Datsun, Mazda and Honda on the list, all grabbing over 4% market share.
In the early 1980s, Mitsubishi quickly dropped on the list, from 14,051 sales in 1982 (3.5% MS) steadily down to only 1.9% market share (8,202 sales) in 1994. When Mitsubishi launched the Carisma, co-developed with Volvo, and both produced in the Netherlands. It was successfully launched thanks to a campaign where you could win one of 80 Carismas, by hanging the Mitsubishi Carisma poster published in all national and regional newspapers clearly visible on your window (see also: youtu.be/obASF7G6AR4 ). Well, at some point you could see those posters all over the Netherlands. Market share of Mitsubishi revived to 2.9% in 1997 (13,669 sales).
It was followed by yet another Mitsubishi developed in Europe and produced in the Netherlands. However, the arrival of the Space Star couldn't compensate for the sales decline of the Carisma. Market share tumbled to only 1.4% (6,907 units) in 2003.
Two years after its launch in Japan, the new Japanese Mitsubishi Colt went into production in its Dutch production facility, with a modernized and more European design and unique three-door model, which was followed by a coupe-cabriolet (CZC), which was assembled by Pininfarina in Italy. It sold well, but as Mitsubishi discontinued the Space Star and Carisma without developing successors, the initial sales growth was only temporarily and market share dropped again to a record low 0.7% in 2012 (3,580 sales).
Meanwhile, the Dutch government heavily subsidized fuel efficient cars with very low taxes for electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles. After Mitsubishi launched the Outlander PHEV, the first plug-in hybrid SUV, this resulted in enormous waiting lists. As advantages for PHEV cars became slightly less attractive in 2014, thousands of people ordered one in the hope to receive one before 2014. To cope up with Dutch demand and as the Outlander PHEV was delayed several months, Japanese production of the Outlander PHEV was fully reserved for the Netherlands. In november 2013, the Outlander alone was good for 2,766 units (6.8% market share), followed by 4,988 units or an out-of-this-world 12.7% market share in December. The Netherlands used to be the largest market for the Outlander PHEV in the world, and is currently only second to the UK with around 28,000 units sold. Demand for the Outlander PHEV collapsed after 2015, when Mitsubishi grabbed 3.2% of the market, due to the halt of subsidies.
Special thanks to www.autodijksman.nl for allowing me to take photos.
One of the casualties of this week's unrest in Kenosha was Rode's, a family owned camera shop opened in 1911. A quick peek at their website confirms that they won't be rebuilding ("Permanently closed"). This is not meant to be a political statement, but more of one of mourning an old friend. To its credit, Kenosha has seen hundreds of volunteers cleaning the city, brightening up the boarded windows with positive and beautiful paintings and showing support for the many business owners who have suffered crippling loss. Hopefully, the worst is behind them. -
Grandson rode with all day long Sun. from 10:30 a.m. til 9:00 p.m. He loves his daddy and he loves farming.
Nikon D7100 + Tamron SP AF 60mm f2 Di II Macro
+ Nikon Speedlight SB-700 Flash fitted with mini-softbox
f/2.2 @ 1/200 @ iso 800
(tweaked in Smart Photo Editor)
Aythorpe Roding Windmill. A Grade II listed Post Mill in Essex.
HDR created from one RAW file processed as three DNG files in Photomatix, adjustments in CS6 with some help from Topaz Filters.