Why ecology is awesome!

Last week was full of exciting stuff again, but I want to emphasize two of them:

The first, the NERN meeting, is the annual Dutch ecology convention. I was there last Tuesday, just like about everyone in the Netherlands and Belgium who has something to do with Ecology research. From the first minute I walked in, the level of "Hey, you are also here?!" was enormous. Most people were there to make people enthousiastic about their research by presenting a poster, a talk or both. My promoter and and copromoter both had a talk and, of course, I was there to listen. However, not next year my promoter told me after his talk. Apparently his presentation was a warm-up for the talk I am going to give next year. Nice! But, there will be a lot of competition of other very interesting ecology studies going on in and outside the Netherlands. Luckily though, none are so interesting as mine.
The feel of such a convention is so nice, like a little sub-universe with only ecologists. And the best thing is.. I am part of it! The day was closed by a talk from Frank Berendse about the Dutch nature policy. People who follow me on Facebook know that I have a little bit of interest in that topic. But there was more. Namely, books! Well, I should not exaggerate, one book. Yes, I bought a book. Again. Frank Berendse wrote a very beautiful book about nature in the Netherlands and as a total groupie I got it signed too :)! 

So how about the second thing. This was the forest field test, that this week actually took place in an actual forest. Ok. I will admit that I was not totally and utterly filled with enthousiasm to go out in the forest with this cold. But, once I was there it was wonderful! The snow cover revealed all the tracks of the forest inhabitants. In the corner of your eyes, more than rarely, you could see a rabbit jump away. Walking further inside the forest sometimes the smell of a fox sneaked up on you. Did it just recently pass by? Or maybe it was in the burrow beneath me? And the birds were singing loud and flying around high in the tops of the trees. The forest was alive, and the life was visible, smelly, hearable and feelable (I don't care if this is not a word). Ahh fieldwork, you never get closer with your research than during those days, the days you are out there, in nature.

“There are no words, no paints to express all this, only a beautiful dumbness in the soul, life speaking to life.”  (Emily Carr)