Experience Nature 2025 with 'Duplo stamps' & back illustrations

The gull with outstretched wings from the first Beleef de Natuur 2025 issue, the laughing gull, immediately reminded me of a previously issued stamp from this issue. After some research, it turned out to be the black-headed gull as a family variant. Moreover, it turned out that two more 'stamp gulls' were present in this Beleef de Natuur (BdN) issue: the kittiwake and the great black-backed gull. 'Duplo stamps' with family variants After some searching, it turned out that six of the ten new 2025 BdN stamps featured family variants. I doubt whether the collector appreciates this kind of 'specialization' in the images of the series of 280 stamps. The 2024 BdN Bonaire (birds) issue features only one stamp with two 'lapwing stamps'. Renewal of BdN stamp issues! The majority of collectors discovered immediately upon purchasing the Beleef de Natuur (BdN) issue in early January 2024 that the back of the stamp did not correspond to that of the front. Monochromatic bird images were printed on it. Little attention has been paid in the philatelic press to the occasion, reason, and execution. For 2024, PostNL’s focus regarding the choice of flora and fauna as images on the stamp fell on the three Dutch 'provinces' of Bonaire, Sint-Eustatius, and Saba in the Caribbean Netherlands. To further emphasize the colorfulness and vibrancy of the tropical region, both literally and figuratively, the back of the stamp sheet was also printed at the suggestion of graphic designer Frank Janse. As a renewal of the 2024 BdN issue (in contrast to all previously issued BdN series), the colored birds from the front of the sheet have ended up on the back in a monochrome version against an empty white background. The birds are depicted standing alone and extend across the perforation. Janse on the white space in the background: “I used that space to repeat the names of the birds, alongside those of the photographers and the image banks from which the photos originate. The colors on the back correspond to the colors of the transparent images on the front.” * Experience Nature 2024 (birds Bonaire) with monochrome silhouette birds alongside it. The multicolored bird A ended up on the back of neighboring stamp B as a monochrome silhouette bird. The photographically restored back with single-color silhouettes is shown on the right. * Among the stamps of the four Experience Nature 2025 issues of Sint-Eustatius, the images on the front and back of each stamp correspond to each other in a correctly executed manner. Incorrectly executed renovation !/? After purchasing the BdN stamp sheet, a stamp blog reader immediately pointed out to us as writers/readers that the bird image on the front did not correspond with that on the back. In response to my inquiry regarding the faulty execution of the stamp sheet, I received the following reply from PostNL: “No deviation occurred at all. We at PostNL and the designer felt it was better and more logical to mirror the 2024 image on the reverse. That seemed more logical to us, but (and perhaps better) some disapproving comments came in anyway. For 2025, we have therefore adjusted the printing on the back of the sheet after all!” When asked why no adjustment was made to the three remaining 2024 series after the first 'misstep', I received the conclusive answer: “All four issues are being produced simultaneously.” Collaboration between Vogelbescherming & Natuurmonumenten In the period between 2018 and 2020, PostNL collaborated with Vogelbescherming on the production of the stamps (vertical stamps). In the period from 2021 to 2023, they collaborated with Natuurmonumenten (horizontal stamps). In 2024 and 2025, the collaboration will no longer take place. Therefore, to ensure the reverse side still looks a bit cheerful and colorful, Frank Janse opted for monochrome silhouette bird images.