On June 14, 2021, the Netherlands Post issued a miniature sheet on the topic "Experience Nature. Duin en Kruidberg".

This year, PostNL is planning to issue four series of stamps on the "Experience Nature" theme. Each issue is dedicated to plants and animals of one of the Dutch nature reserves. Earlier this year, stamps were issued for the Dwingelderveld heath landscape (January 2, 2021) and De Onlanden wetland area (February 22, 2021), and a release is planned for August on the Haarzuilens city estate (August 16, 2021). The Experience Nature theme will continue in 2022 and 2023.

The Duin en Kruidberg nature reserve is part of the Zuid-Kennemerland National Park, founded in 1995 and managed by the Natuurmonumenten Association for the Conservation of Natural Monuments of the Netherlands. The reserve with a total area of ​​about 38 sq. km occupies part of the coast between IJmuiden and Zandvoort in the province of North Holland.  

The dune landscape at Duin and Kruidberg, despite its austere brevity, is actually very diverse. First, there is a narrow line of the beach with sandbanks, then dunes, sometimes overgrown with grass, bushes and trees, stretch inland for several kilometers. There are drifting dunes and dune lakes, open meadows and age-old oak forests. Likewise, the animals and birds that live in these places are diverse. The local flora is also interesting, growing on sandy soils under the constant influence of salty sea air and wind.

During the work on the series of stamps, designer Frank Janse worked closely with the nature conservation organization Natuurmonumenten, which owns the reserve. They were faced with the task of displaying on the postage stamps all the beauty and diversity of the local flora and fauna. As a result, a list was compiled and colorful photographs of selected animals, birds and plants were selected. The postage stamps depict the European fallow deer, red fox, wild rabbit, Polish Konik, nightingale, niobium mother-of-pearl butterfly; from the plants are represented: sea buckthorn, marsh parnassia, tricolor violet and thyme.

The stamps are arranged in pairs in the miniature sheet, the fields of the small sheet decorate the background and contour images of the inhabitants of the reserve. In the margins opposite each stamp there is an explanatory text with the names of animals and plants. Also, for the design of this series of stamps, the designer has developed a unique font with which the name of the country is written.

The appearance of the Polish Konik in this series of stamps looks strange at first glance. However, this is indeed the case, since 2003 a herd of these horses has been living in the reserve in the wild. They are accompanied by Shetland ponies, as well as Scottish highland cows and even bison. These large herbivores are specially bred on the territory of the natural park so that they eat and trample grass and shrubs. In sand dunes in humid climates, coarse grass, nettles and cover shrubs grow very quickly, disrupting the existing ecosystem and interfering with the growth of other plants. Therefore, horses help the reserve staff to keep plant growth under control.

Small herds of gray Konik quietly graze in the dunes and feel no worse than the original inhabitants of these places. In the photo from the postage stamp, the konik stands calmly in the low thickets and the fresh sea breeze inflates its mane.