[from the PostNL press release] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
Experience Nature – Skrok and Skrins
Date of issue: 13 February 2023
Appearance: sheet of ten stamps in ten different designs
Item number: 430261
Design: Frank Janse, Gouda
Photography: Buiten-Beeld
On 13 February 2023, PostNL will publish the Experience Nature – Skrok and Skrins* 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 Skrok and Skrins stamp sheet is part of the Experience nature 2021-2023 perennial 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.
This sheet focuses on the grasslands of the Skrok and Skrins nature reserves, located in the province of Friesland. The stamp sheet issued earlier this year (2 January 2023) featured Marker Wadden in Flevoland. Stamp sheets featuring the Wieden in Overijssel (12 June 2023) and the Oisterwijkse Bossen en Vennen in North Brabant (24 August 2023) will be published later this year.
The Skrok and Skrins nature reserves are located in the Greidhoek. This region in Friesland is known for its vast meadow landscape scattered with grasslands and terps. The meadows in these nature reserves are a favourite habitat for meadow birds such as golden plover, black-tailed godwit, lapwing, pied avocet and common redshank. Skrok and Skrins 
are bird reserves owned by Natuurmonumenten and are each about 100 hectares in size. Visitors can observe the meadow birds and migratory birds from the bird hide at the Swyns pond. The hut is accessible from an old mass path from the hamlet of Skrok. Natuurmonumenten keeps Skrok and Skrins wet, making them ideal feeding and resting areas for many bird species. Skrins, which is a similar nature reserve to Skrok, lies in an old estuary that was reclaimed during the Middle Ages. The area consists of wet ditches and convex fields. In some places, salt water still reaches the surface, causing unusual plants such as seaside arrowgrass and brass button to grow there. From January to May, Natuurmonumenten floods a large part of Skrins, which attracts large numbers of geese and thousands of golden plovers, which also benefit. The Skrins bird hide is situated between Hinnaard and the hamlet of Skrins.
Ranger Simon de Winter is around Skrok and Skrins very single day, as he manages the 
meadow bird reserves on behalf of Natuurmonumenten. ‘
“They are both special areas – old farmland that has been farmed for hundreds of years, says ranger Simon de Winter, who is around Skrok and Skrins very single day, as he manages the meadow bird reserves on behalf of Natuurmonumenten.
The preserve is much as it always was, de Winter added, and “each season there is always something going on. Of course, the best time to come is in the spring, when it’s teeming with black-tailed godwits, Northern shovelers, pied avocets, common redshanks and many more species of meadow birds.”
The ten residents of this nature reserve featured on the Experience Nature – Skrok and Skrins stamps are the
- hare,
- common redshank,
- sea milkwort,
- golden plover,
- black-tailed godwit,
- pied avocet,
- lapwing,
- water horsetail,
- brass button and
- ruff.
The stamp sheet also features many more images of typical flora and fauna from this area. The following are shown as monochrome images in a separate graphic layer: water horsetail (top right), flowering rush (top centre), lapwing (just above centre left), brass button (just above centre right), golden plover (centre left), hare (bottom left) and sea milkwort (bottom centre and right).
The Experience nature – Skrok and Skrins 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 as they cross the perforations and connect the stamps to each other.
In Friesland, nature is diverse, with vast meadows, large lakes, the Wadden Sea and small landscapes featuring forests, wooded banks and heaths. Both the mainland and the islands are important stopover 
sites during bird migration. There are large national parks, including the Drents-Friese Wold National Park, the Lauwersmeer National Park, the Alde Feanen National Park and the Schiermonnikoog National Park. The entire Wadden Sea area has also been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The stamps in the Experience nature – Skrok and Skrins series are available while stocks last at all PostNL sales outlets, the post office counter in Bruna shops and at www.postnl.nl/bijzondere-postzegels [in Dutch].
Technical Details:
Stamp size: 40 x 30mm:
Sheet size: 122 x 170mm
Paper: normal with phosphor print
Glue: self-adhesive
Printing technique: offset
Printing colours: cyan, magenta, yellow and black
Print run: 285,000 sheets
Appearance: sheet of 10 stamps in 10 different designs
Design: Frank Janse, Gouda
Photography: Buiten-Beeld
Printing company: Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé B.V., Haarlem
Item number: 430261
* PostNL media relations says “skroks” and “skins” are the names of nature preserves and also hamlets in the region, and the words don’t translate by themselves.
