I am fascinated by sand dunes, in case you didn’t know. More precisely, I have a little obsession with them. The Dutch coast is covered in beaches, which are bordered by dunes. The dune landscape can be more varied than you’d expect, and the vegetation growing on them ranges from beach grass to shrubs and forests. Amazing, isn’t it?

This summer I was set to look for the flowers growing on the dunes, and there I was, at Egmond aan Zee, under the scorching sun, feet burned by the hot sand, carrying my camera to photograph little flowers. It’s not easy to be a nature photographer! But every trip ended with a bath in the sea (or at least my legs in the cold water), so it was worth it.

I love very much the sea thistle with its spiky leaves and purple flowers, the wild roses and the sea buckthorn growing abundantly (I know where to do my foraging this autumn!) and all the other flowers whose names I don’t know. There were bumblebees and butterflies around, which made me happy, knowing that they have a place to go to find good food. And here’s a little gallery of my findings:

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