De Mortel Bird Feeder Webcam – Brabant Forest Wildlife

The De Mortel Bird Feeder Webcam looks across a woodland feeding spot in a forest at De Mortel, a small village in the east of North Brabant in the Netherlands. A long fallen trunk runs through the middle of the frame, scattered with seed, with a tree stump table to the right, a nest box fixed to a pine on the left and feeders hanging from the branches. Great tits, blue tits, nuthatches and great spotted woodpeckers are regulars on the log, and red squirrels often raid it between them. After dark the scene changes hands. The operator’s recordings show tawny owls dropping onto the log to hunt wood mice, while foxes, badgers and martens pass through. The setup is dressed for the season, so in autumn the log carries pumpkins and gourds alongside the seed.

About the De Mortel Bird Feeder

The camera belongs to Hans Natuurkanaal, a Dutch nature channel on YouTube, and the current stream has been running since September 2022. The channel describes the spot only as a forest in De Mortel and gives no address, so the map pin marks the village rather than the feeder itself. De Mortel was first recorded in 1408 as “in den mortel”, a name meaning a low lying muddy place. It grew up as a farming community south of Gemert, built around a triangular square where St Antonius Abt Church went up between 1902 and 1904. The village covers 10.25 square kilometers (3.96 square miles) and had 1,415 residents in 2021, against 165 in 1840.

The woods here are younger than they look. The forest belt that runs from De Mortel into Beestenveld, Stippelberg and Nederheide grew from plantations laid out between 1880 and 1920, and tall pine trunks and dense shrubs fill the back of the frame. The Peelrandbreuk, a geological fault that crosses this corner of Brabant, shows as a step in the land at Hogen Aarle in De Mortel. The village has a second wildlife landmark too: its 127.7 meter (419 foot) media tower, built in 1989 and 1990, has been home to a family of peregrine falcons since 2004.

The operator lists more than 20 frequent bird guests, from robins, dunnocks and song thrushes to jays, magpies, stock doves and bullfinches, and says over 60 species visit in summer. Sparrowhawks hunt the small birds here by day. The stream carries live forest sound, and the channel runs it through BirdNET-Pi, a machine learning system that identifies bird calls automatically and feeds a daily top 10 of the songs it picks up.

Weather and Climate in De Mortel

De Mortel has a mild, damp climate, and the long-term record for Eindhoven, 19 kilometers (12 miles) to the south-west, gives the picture for 1991 to 2020. January averages highs of 6.1 C (43 F) and lows of 0.4 C (33 F), so frosty mornings are a normal part of winter and snow settles on the log in some years. April warms to 15.5 C (60 F) by day with nights near 4.3 C (40 F), and July reaches 24.0 C (75 F) with lows of 12.9 C (55 F). Rain is spread through the year, about 750 mm (29.5 inches) in total.

October still averages 15.2 C (59 F) by day and 6.8 C (44 F) at night, and the forest floor fills with fallen leaves and pine cones. The operator sums up the year as autumn leaves, winter snow, spring nesting and summer feeding. Spring is nesting season in the surrounding trees, while summer migrants such as the pied flycatcher and blackcap join the residents. De Mortel runs on Central European Time, six hours ahead of New York and one hour ahead of London for most of the year, which matters if you want to catch the morning rush at the feeder.

Things to Do Near De Mortel

The Stippelberg reserve near the neighbouring village of De Rips is named for the “dots” in its landscape, small drift sand dunes that formed when the area was still open and the sand could blow freely. On the highest dune stands d’n Blikken Emmer, a bucket on a pole that forest workers once struck to mark their breaks and to raise the alarm in a fire. Landgoed Nederheide covers 463 hectares (1,144 acres), mostly Scots pine, north of a line between Deurne and the Bakelse Plassen recreation lakes. The Grotelsche Bossen en Heide adds 115 hectares (284 acres) of heath, grassland and forest along the Esperloop stream, and Natuurcentrum De Specht in Handel has a herb garden, a butterfly meadow and a frog pond.

Gemert, just to the north, holds most of the history. Work on Gemert Castle began in 1391, and the Teutonic Order used it until 1794, having held Gemert as a territory independent of the Netherlands from the 13th century. The castle has an English style park and a Second World War liberation monument, and tours of the keep, courtyard and gardens run with limited places during renovation. The Boerenbondsmuseum shows objects and whole buildings from the farming families around Gemert around 1900. Back in De Mortel, a 1981 bronze by Toon Grassens shows the farmer Grardje and his boar.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

More feeders, owls and Dutch views from the site:

• Lierganes Bird Feeder Webcam
• Peak District Barn Owl Webcam
• Breda Airport Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the De Mortel Bird Feeder located?

In a forest feeding spot at De Mortel, a village in the municipality of Gemert-Bakel in North Brabant, the Netherlands. It lies about 19 kilometers (12 miles) north-east of Eindhoven. The operator does not publish the exact site.

What can you see on the De Mortel Bird Feeder Webcam?

A fallen trunk spread with seed, a tree stump table, a nest box and hanging feeders in pine woodland. Songbirds, woodpeckers and red squirrels feed by day, and owls, foxes, badgers and martens can turn up at night.

What birds visit the De Mortel Bird Feeder?

Regulars include great and blue tits, nuthatches, great spotted woodpeckers, chaffinches, jays and short-toed treecreepers, with sparrowhawks and tawny owls hunting here too.

Can you see owls on the De Mortel Bird Feeder Webcam at night?

Yes, on some nights. Tawny owls hunt mice at the feeding spot, and the channel has posted several clips of strikes on the log. The operator warns that the stream is uncensored, so a kill can happen on screen.

What is the weather like in De Mortel?

Mild and damp. Eindhoven’s 1991 to 2020 averages run from highs of 6.1 C (43 F) in January to 24.0 C (75 F) in July, with about 750 mm (29.5 inches) of rain a year.

What is there to do near De Mortel?

Walk the drift sand dunes of the Stippelberg or the pine forest of Landgoed Nederheide, then visit Gemert Castle and the Boerenbondsmuseum.

Does Hans Natuurkanaal run other webcams?

Yes. The channel also streams tawny owl cameras in De Mortel, one inside a nest box and one outside it, and a barn owl camera at De Rips.

Source: Hans Natuurkanaal