Milvus milvus
Red Kite/Rød glente

photo 2008 Skagen: stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan Foto

The red kite is a fantastic flyer. With its long, forked tail, its long wings with a span of 145-165 cm and the rust-red colour it is a beautiful and striking bird of prey.

The Danish name glente derives from Old Norse gleda, which belonged to Indo European glend(h) , meaning to glide. The English name kite because it hangs for hours like a"kite" above the forest, marking its territory.

Its habitat is mostly inside Europe. In the beginning of the 1900s the kite was almost exterminated in Denmark because of shooting and putting down poison, but after a total protection from 1922 the species re-immigrated in the 1970s from the growing Swedish and German population and has since spread slowly in Denmark.

2007 was a breakthrough year with 46 breeding couple in Denmark. The South Swedish population of kites has grown from 20 breeding couple in 1960 to over 1200 in 2007. But the kite is still threatened, among other things because of direct persecution on their overwintering places in Spain. The international pressure has diminished the problem.

In Denmark the kite is on the Red List which is an international commitment. The Danish Red List was updated in 2005.

The red kite plays an important role as Nature's garbage man. It also feeds on amphibians, reptiles, mice, rats, little birds, crows and seagulls.

Weather Omens, Superstitions etc.:
If the kite was white beneath the wings when arriving in spring you had to be prepared for still another snowy weather.

It the kites fly high playing with one another the weather will be beautiful; if the kite screams a lot then rainy weather is on its way - and if it flies down into the farm yard it will be stormy weather.

The maid in a vicarage stole a pair of scissors and the vicar - who was a "wise man" - changed her into a kite, therefore its tail is forked.

You must not look for at kite, it has a hole in its wings and it is dangerous to look through it.

When the little birds fight they make the kite a judge.


photo 2008 Skagen: grethe bachmann

Along the Beach.


airy smoke in harbour
people working
cathedral vanishing behind chimneys
but it is still there


hey you dog on the beach!
lost in a dog's world
dressed in bushy eyebrows
and Tibetan fur from Benedikte Utzon?


sea and sky in one
pearly blue
fluorescent lavender
screaming seagulls
ducks and seaweed


red man in yellow boat
sailing in blue space
enjoying life
on a cold day in February.

photo: gb, Strandvejen Århus

Sletterhage, Helgenæs, A Fishing Day


Sletterhage Lighthouse on Helgenæs, Djursland, Jutland


It has always been my private conviction that any man, who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses, has it coming.
John Steinbeck


The fishing was good, it was the catching that was bad.
NN


An angler is a man, who spends rainy days sitting around by the beach doing nothing, because his wife won't let him do it at home.
NN

photo: grethe bachmann, Sletterhage, Helgenæs

Quote of the Day


Asger Jorn /Vejle Museum of Art

Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.
Terry Pratchett.

photo 2009: gb, Vejle Museum

Canoeing on a Cold Morning...

To follow the drops sliding from a lifting oar,
Head up, while the rower breathes,
And the small boat drifts quietly shoreward...
Theodore Roethke (The Shape of Fire)

photo:grethe bachmann, Århus Bugt

STREETART

Vejle Museum of Art /
Vejle Kunstmuseum





A special exhibition in Vejle Kunstmuseum is STREETART which takes its starting point in the graffiti as it is seen in the public area, but also in streetart in general. Most artists at the exhibition are former graffiti-painters. The artists are Anders Reventlov Larsen, Clean, Frodo Mikkelsen, HuskMitNavn, OEPS Crew, Rene Holm and Søren Behncke (Papfar). They express themselves in traditional painting and sculpture but the figures from their streetart are often still there. Their art is cunning and underneath there is a sharp criticism of society - although it also has a humorously touch.

Link
Vejle Kunstmuseum

photo January 2009: grethe bachmann, Vejle Kunstmuseum, southeast Jutland

Ebeltoft Glasmuseum - Exhibition "antARCTIC"

Artist: Peter Bremers, NL




The artist Peter Bremers from the Netherlands was inspired from his travels to Antarctic, Greenland and Svalbard. At first he was told that creating these glass sculptures would be impossible , but the final result is absolutely stunning. There is much more of those brilliant sculptures in the exhibition - in all the fantastic colours of the ice-landscape. The turquoise and blue shades are so beautiful and here are a few examples.

Link:
Ebeltoft Glasmuseum

photo February 2009: grethe bachmann, Ebeltoft Glasmuseum, Ebeltoft, East Jutland

February



February when the grey days of winter seem endless
Misty days when the faithless sun has gone
To another place
How far?

February when all flowers hide their little heads
Hopeful days when the lovely sun returns
Spring is near.
That's all.

photo February 2009: grethe bachmann, country road by Haraldskær, southeast Jutland