Experience Nature - Marker Wadden

On 2 January 2023, PostNL will publish the Experience nature – Marker Wadden issue: a sheet of ten stamps in ten different designs. The denomination on these stamps is ‘1’, the denomination for items weighing up to 20g destined for the Netherlands. A sheet of ten stamps costs €10.10.

The stamp sheet is part of the multi-annual Experience nature 2021-2023 series. In the series, four stamp sheets are issued every year, each comprising ten different stamps. The stamps feature images of plants and animals in unique Dutch nature reserves across the country. In 2023, it is the turn of the provinces of Flevoland, Friesland, Overijssel and Noord-Brabant.

The Experience nature – Marker Wadden issue of 2 January 2023 highlights the landscape of the new natural environment of the Marker Wadden archipelago, located in the Markermeer in the province of Flevoland. Later this year, further stamp sheets will be released focusing on Skrok and Skrins in Friesland (13 February 2023), the Wieden in Overijssel (12 June 2023) and the Oisterwijkse Bossen en Vennen in Noord-Brabant (24 August 2023).

Marker Wadden is the name of a nature reserve consisting of a group of five uninhabited islands with a combined area of 1,000 hectares. They were constructed in the Markermeer between 2016 and 2021, with the aim of boosting nature recovery and improving birdlife. The sixth and seventh island will be completed in 2023. Together with Oostvaardersplassen and Lepelaarplassen, Marker Wadden is part of Flevoland's Nieuw Land National Park. The islands were largely created using sand, clay and sediment from the Markermeer itself. Natuurmonumenten manages the conservation of this new nature reserve. The tranquillity of the area attracts vulnerable waterbirds. Vital for fish-eating birds in the Markermeer is the presence of their main food source, especially smelt. Research in 2020 showed that, due to the construction of Marker Wadden, the availability of nutrients in the water increased significantly in a short time. It attracted large quantities of insects and other tiny life such as algae, water fleas and fish larvae. These, in turn, are food for birds and fish. Early spring is a great time for the birds at Marker Wadden, from late winter visitors like the goosander, Lapland longspur, teal and horned lark to the first summer visitors like the black-tailed godwit, little ringed plover, spoonbill and avocet. A permanent ferry service to Marker Wadden started operating in 2022, with sailings from Lelystad from April to October.

Initiator and project director Roel Posthoorn of Natuurmonumenten: ‘When the construction of Marker Wadden began in 2016, expectations were high. And luckily it is going really well. We have also encountered interesting surprises, things happening that we had not expected. For example, a gull-billed tern nest was found. This migrant bird last nested in our country in 1958, a consequence of human intervention in nature. But it is also human intervention that has given it the opportunity to return. So we can break things, but also fix things up to a point. Another surprise is how wonderfully keen people are to visit Marker Wadden. Right from the beginning, we wanted to create a bird paradise where people are also welcome. First using wood and rope and, starting last summer, with a regular ferry service. It is impressive when you see people enjoying the environment, the birds, and the walks on the narrow paths through the reed beds. At Marker Wadden, the water can be felt, experienced and seen everywhere. It is a place of quietude. There is no traffic, you can’t hear any planes and there is no background noise produced by man or machine. Marker Wadden is a place with a unique atmosphere, a place of good spirit. Nature changes with the seasons. When the breeding season starts in March-April, you get a cacophony of sounds from black-headed gulls, common terns, avocets and all kinds of plovers. It is much quieter in winter, when you mostly encounter ducks. Walking through the reed beds, you can hear the pinging sound of the bearded reedling, another unique experience. For me, the essence of Marker Wadden is that it was born from a sense of longing. In wildlife management, we are often concerned with finding solutions to problems. But this is actually something that we want, something we long for. It is something close to people’s hearts. And this is why we welcome them.’

The ten residents of this nature reserve featured on the Experience nature – Marker Wadden stamps are the mute swan, common bulrush, spoonbill, marram grass, little ringed plover, bearded reedling, common tern, smelt, common grasshopper warbler and sea buckthorn. Each has its own stamp. The stamp sheet also features many more images of flora and fauna typical for this area. These are featured in a separate graphic layer as monochrome images: marram grass (top left and right), bearded reedling (top centre), common tern (centre left), mute swan (centre right), earthworm (centre), smelts (centre and right), buckthorn (bottom left) and little ringed plover (bottom right).

The Experience nature – Marker Wadden stamp sheet was designed by graphic designer Frank Janse from Gouda. On the sheet, the ten plants and animals are depicted in their natural environment, each on their own stamp. In some cases, the image or background colour continues onto the adjacent stamp and onto the sheet edge. All photos are incorporated in a graphic layer of different-sized overlapping circles, which break through the boundaries of the perforations. The circle pattern returns as small droplets on the sheet edge and the tabs. There is another graphic layer on top of the circles featuring monochrome images of animals and plants from this area. These images are almost abstract and extend across the perforations to link the stamps together.

For the typography, Janse used his own font, which he designed especially for the Experience nature series. The font, which consists of tiny circles, was given the name Fdot. The explanatory texts on the sheet edge are set in the TT Milks Light and Demibold in capitals (2017, Ivan Gladkikh for Typetype). In the captions, the designer creatively expresses his associations with the names, features and appearance of the plants and animals depicted, adding a touch of humour.

The Experience nature series was designed by graphic designer Frank Janse from Gouda. While the focus was on various animal and plant species in the period from 2018 to 2020, in 2021-2023 the focus will be on unique Dutch nature reserves and their flora and fauna. The 2 January 2023 issue highlights residents of Marker Wadden in Flevoland, located in the Markermeer.

Fascinating stories
The nature reserves were chosen in consultation with experts from the nature conservation organisation Natuurmonumenten. A number of considerations played a role in the selection of these diverse landscapes. Each area had to have plenty of interesting flora and fauna, for example. There had to be enough diversity, so every species could be represented: from plants, trees and mammals to insects, reptiles and amphibians. Janse: ‘I also wanted to have a decent choice of beautiful images and it had to have a captivating story attached to it. The common factor of this issue on Marker Wadden is the new natural environment that humans have created here. They ensured that there is plenty of variation in the landscape, with parts that flood regularly. So you attract different species, mainly fish and birds, which feel at home where water meets land.’

List of candidates
For the Experience nature – Marker Wadden stamp sheet, Janse drew up a list of plant and animal candidates, of which ten finally remained. ‘I did this for all of the landscapes in the Experience nature series at the same time. That way we could show a nice range. After all, many plants and animals occur in multiple nature reserves in the Netherlands. This way, we avoided repetitions. Marker Wadden is special because it is such an incredibly young area. Construction began only six years ago. Due to the remote nature of the islands, it is still hard to find photographic material of the flora and fauna. Although was is more than enough to create a lovely stamp sheet.’

The province
The Marker Wadden are situated in the Markermeer, which is part of Flevoland. This youngest (1984) province of the Netherlands consists of the Noordoostpolder and the Flevopolder. Both polders were created in the 20th century by draining parts of the Zuiderzee. Janse's earliest memories of Flevoland date back to when he was very young. ‘Friends of my parents had a farm in Zeeland. Like many other farmers at the time, they moved to the new polders to seek their fortune. We stayed there at one point, and I still remember the straight roads, tall electricity pylons, emptiness and vastness of the new land. Which made the cows look even bigger than they already were to a little boy.’

Balanced overall image
When distributing the plants and animals over the Experience nature – Marker Wadden stamp sheet, Janse’s aim was to create an overall image that was as beautiful and balanced as possible. Initially, he creates a substantive distribution so the same species do not end up in one place. Janse: ‘But I sometimes change that again in practice. The composition is always a guide, with a balanced distribution of colours and shots from close-up and far away. When selecting the pictures, I also took into account that this stamp sheet will be issued in the middle of winter. The light is cold, as are the colours, with many shades of grey and white, but also icy blue. Some pictures have orange as a contrasting colour. But even then, you can see that it is cold. In the case of the bearded reedling, for example, this is evident because it is standing in the snow.’

Representative selection
From the flora and fauna in and around Marker Wadden Janse chose ten representatives to be featured as main characters on the stamps. The white images play an important part in the design, he explains. ‘These transparent images link the stamps together. Most of the animals and plants I used for this are already featured on other stamps. Except for the earthworm wriggling across the stamps at the centre of the sheet. It was not photogenic enough for a leading role, but as a white image, it was just right. The earthworm is an important link in the food chain, which is why it takes centre stage. The transparent mute swan on the right is especially vital for the composition. The curve of its neck reflects the circles, but continues across the stamp sheet, for example between the bearded reedling and the smelt. It also continues on the left underneath the spoonbills and parallel to the back of the transparent common tern. Altogether, it creates a dynamic composition.’

Mute swan, common bulrush, spoonbill and marram grass
The pictures on the stamp sheet create a colour gradient, from light at the top to darker at the bottom. ‘That is a natural and therefore logical construction’, Janse explains. ‘Also, the pictures at the bottom are generally more detailed. I can also influence this to some extent through cropping. The mute swan is shown in its entirety on the top left, posing with its head facing in a different direction from its body. This often produces a great effect with animals. The transparent marram grass at the top left of the swan stamp resembles a cloud in the sky. Just like the white bearded reedling on the stamp with the bulrush. In the next row, the picture with the spoonbills was taken from a completely different vantage point. From above, you can clearly see how they forage by stirring their beaks back and forth in the water. The marram grass next to it is great stuff, it looks so tough and weathered. The stamp features a classic picture, a photograph shot from below. The dune with the marram grass basically forms the back of the transparent swan on its right. These are the kinds of fluke that make me happy. Not every effect is deliberate, sometimes it just happens.’

Little ringed plover and bearded reedling
The middle two stamps show 2 birds facing each other: the little ringed plover on the left, the bearded reedling on the right. Between them, the earthworm wriggles across the perforations. ‘The plover looks at it with great interest, although I am not sure if this particular bird is really that fond of worms. It is also about to take off. The bearded reedling also has its eye on the worm, but it definitely does not eat them. It is far too small for that. Its striking colour did give it pride of place on the stamp sheet. It really draws the eye.’

Common tern and smelt
The stamp below the bearded reedling features one of Marker Wadden's main food sources: the smelt. White images of smelt swim towards the terns on the left of the stamp ‘This is Marker Wadden in a nutshell’, according to Janse. ‘There are plenty of fish around, which attract birds. By the way, it is always difficult to properly depict a fish on a stamp. This is because of their elongated body and the tinge of colour you always see on underwater photos. Same here, but the head with that big eye actually looks really good. The smelt looks anxiously at the terns, who know exactly what to do with it. For the common tern, I deliberately didn’t use a characteristic picture of the bird diving for food. It is much too hard to recognise it that way. Now, you can really see how they are built to dive into the water, with their short necks, long tails and streamlined shape. They stand patiently on the beach, waiting to be allowed to take to the air again, ready for the next dive to catch the smelt.’

Grasshopper warbler and sea buckthorn
On the lower stamps, the colours are almost the same, with the steel blue sky in the background and the yellow and orange of the grasshopper warbler and sea buckthorn berries in the foreground. ‘Still, they are two separate pictures’, says Janse. ‘I didn’t edit any of the colours. You can tell it is winter by the yellow of the berries. When sea buckthorn fruits appear in autumn, they are still a bright orange. When they remain on the bush, they dry and become increasingly yellow. The grasshopper warbler isn’t interested in it and looks the other way. Its beak is open, because it is called a songbird for a reason. Although ... song? It is more of a monotonous trill with little melody

It somewhat resembles the “singing” of a grasshopper, hence the name. Finally, at the bottom right there is a large white image of the little ringed plover. Its plump, round body nicely matches the circle patterns and the orange-yellow berries mix with its plumage. Its feet are on the ground. That makes sense at the bottom of a stamp sheet.’

About the designer
Frank Janse (Vlissingen, 1967) graduated as a graphic designer from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam in 2001. Janse is a specialist in corporate identity, branding, infographics and communication campaigns. Until 2019, he worked for various advertising and design agencies, including Room for IDs, and he also worked for himself as Frank Grafisch Ontwerp in Gouda. In 2019, together with Leene Communicatie, he founded the new company Leene Visuele Communicatie, which designs communication tools focusing on content and information design. Leene Visuele Communicatie works for clients such as housing corporation Rochdale, PostNL, Randstad Groep Nederland, the central government, Vattenfall and health research and care innovation organisation ZonMw.

Since the end of 2022, Frank has been art director and co-owner of VormVijf in the Hague. VormVijf works for governments, companies and organisations with the (mostly organised) citizen as its main – and largest – target group. The agency connects strategy, design and content with the ambition to innovate, surprise and create impact. On the instructions of PostNL, Frank Janse has previously designed various luxury storage systems and personal stamps, including the 2017 themed collection on bird species of the Netherlands. He also produced the designs for the Experience nature series from 2018 to 2022.