February 28. After nearly two years of no overseas trips, it was time to
venture abroad again with a short European trip. I booked on the Naturetrek
trip to The Netherlands and we all met up at St Pancras. The continuing
pandemic meant lots of additional form-filling and the need to get a certificate showing a
negative covid test although this seemed unnecessary as no one then asked to see it! A
double passport check was required as a result of Brexit which added to the
really long queues.
Eventually we got through the formalities and there was time
to relax and have a coffee and Danish in the cafe before boarding the 11am
train. This was my first time on Eurostar and we soon whizzed past the spots I
know such as Rainham and Swanscombe then plunged into Kent and through the
tunnel for twenty minutes before arriving in France. We stopped at Lille, then into
Belgium, stopping at Brussels and finally we got off at Rotterdam.
We strolled over to the car hire and were soon on our way
out of the city and on to our first birding stop at Battenoord Harbour. The
target here was quickly located, a flock of large pink things which were soon
identified as Greater and Chilean Flamingos, the latter being an introduced,
self-sustaining population. The last time I saw these birds they were in their
natural home in South America so this felt a bit like cheating! Among other
birds here were our first, and certainly not our last, Barnacle Geese. With the
light fading we drove to our hotel and had a bit of time to relax before dinner.
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Chilean & Greater Flamingos |
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Typical Dutch scene - Flamingos and Windmills |
March 1st. The following morning we were out before
breakfast and crossed over the road onto the dunes and had a look at the sea.
There was a flock of Red-throated Divers, Eider, Common Scoter and an obliging
Slavonian Grebe. We left after breakfast and went exploring the fields and
coastline of this southern part of the country.
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Slavonian Grebe |
More introduced birds were found, this time Bar-headed Goose
and Black Swan among the hordes of wild geese. Interspersed among them were
several Spoonbills, Great Egrets and plenty of waders.
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Barnacle Geese |
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Spoonbills |
We popped into a nice bakery for lunch then spent some time
on the coast where there was a decent sized flock of 60 Purple Sands and a
similar number of Red-throated Divers. At another site further north we saw our
first Goshawk and a Peregrine flushing all the wildfowl. Huge numbers of
waders, mostly godwits and plovers flew in from the coast and landed in the
fields.
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Bakery |
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Purple Sandpiper |
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Waders |
It was a long drive to our next hotel and we arrived at
7.30pm so went straight into dinner.
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Hotel |
March 2nd. Pre-breakfast birding was a walk around the woods
at the back of the hotel. Among the commoner species seen was an obliging
Short-toed Treecreeper. We then went exploring the goosefields around Noordeinde
where the numbers of Barnacles were in the tens of thousands. Among a flock of
White-fronted Geese we found two Tundra Bean Geese.
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Tundra Bean Geese in foreground; White-fronted Geese in background |
A few Smew were seen in the wider ditches and I picked up a
White Stork as we drove along a main road. A bit later I found a White-tailed
Eagle soaring so we screeched to a halt and all bundled out. Luckily it continued
soaring around for everyone to get great views of this huge flying barn-door.
As it was a nice
sunny day we decided to have our lunch outside at the cafe. This also meant we
could carry on birding as there were Smew on the river. We spent the rest of
the afternoon walking around the reserve, seeing another White-tailed Eagle,
Willow Tit, a distant Hen Harrier and large herds of Red Deer.
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Willow Tit |
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White-tailed Eagle |
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Smew |
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Red Deer |
March 3rd. We did our own pre-breakfast walk before
breakfast and found a tree with a few Hawfinches in. As we watched more flew in
and eventually there were 25 gathered there. We spent the day checking out the
goosefields around Workum and Makkum and finally found a Red-breasted Goose in
amongst the Barnies. Among the many Common Buzzards we found a single
Rough-legged.
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Hawfinch |
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White-fronted and Barnacle Geese |
As we drove along the coast road I saw a Bittern feeding in
a ditch but as we pulled off to stop we sank into the soft mud. We spent the
next ten minutes trying to extricate the vehicle until we were rescued by a
kind Dutchman who had seen it all before. Everyone had brief views of the
Bittern which decided to play a game of hide-and-seek before we carried on back
to the hotel. After dinner it was time to fill out the dreaded online passenger
location form to allow us back into the UK and most of us struggled with this piece
of bureaucracy.
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Bittern |
March 4th. Our last day and a few of us went to see the
Hawfinches again before breakfast. We loaded the van and headed off to our
first stop on the southbound leg. This was a forested area with an open heath,
resembling the Brecks. Apart from the Black Woodpecker that was calling and
briefly seen by the car park! From the largest European woodpecker, we went to
the smallest and found a pair of Lesser Spots. A flock of Crossbills flew over
and there were several Woodlarks singing, one of which conveniently landed next
to us.
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Lesser Spotted Woodpecker |
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Woodlark |
A pair of Goshawks got up over the trees and then one did a flypast,
allowing us exceptionally close views. It landed on the edge of the clearing
and as we tried to locate it a flock of four Cranes flew over.
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Goshawk |
We carried on further south for our final stop on the
goosefields to look for Lesser White-fronts but to no avail as there were very
few geese around. Soon it was time to pack up and go and we headed back into
Rotterdam to check in for the mid-afternoon train back to the UK. We saw 122
species between us including vast flocks of geese, making it an excellent short
break.
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Barnacle Goose |
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