Netherlands May 2022

Following my birding breaks in the UK, I rounded off my spring birding holiday with a few days in the Netherlands.  As always I sailed from Harwich and I was picked up by my friend Wietze Janse at the ferry port at Hoek Van Holland before driving to Zevenhuizen also in South Holland, where the Little Bitterns failed to show at the third time of asking.  Savi's Warbler was seen here, as well as Cuckoo, Kingfisher and various common migrants.  News that a Pectoral Sandpiper was was still present nearby was hopefully an easy Dutch tick. At first we could see only a Little Stint and other commoner waders. However, the Pec must have been hidden and suddenly appeared. Rather distant even in the scope, but on the list!

Sedge Warbler (juvenile)

An hour's drive to Ameide in Utrecht Province, and we were in an area of extensive marshes where we saw Purple Heron, Marsh Warbler, Icterine Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, numerous Black Terns and a beautiful White-winged Tern. The latter bird was nesting some way to the right of the viewing platform but eventually did a circuit along the back of the marsh before going on a feeding sortie.  I could have stayed here all day, but we had a schedule and more potential Dutch ticks.  

Black Tern

White-winged Tern

Spotted Flycatcher

Purple Heron

We drove into Flevoland province where we spent quite some time walking and searching unsuccessfully for Baillon's Crake and Thrush Nightingale. My attempts to photograph an Icterine Warbler were also dashed.  

With so much time driving, walking and birding we were burning up the hours, but this was my fault, owing to my target species and needing to finish in time for my train north.  We finished at Oostvaardersplassen, where we had nice views of three Cattle Egrets as well as White Stork, while eating some nice ice cream!

Cattle Egret

Wietze dropped me at a Leystad train station and I made the hour or so journey to Groningen and then Zuidhorn and I checked into my hotel for a two night's stay.

The next morning I was met by Lazar Brinkhuizen, who provided the wheels for the day, organised by my friend Martijn Bot of Birding Netherlands.

It was rather breezy, making birding on the marshes at Lauwersmeer a bit of a challenge, but a few common birds were noted. Most of the birds on the wetlands were rather distant, so I concentrated my efforts on a pair of Bearded Tit in the reedbed behind us. The wind made this really hard, but I somehow managed a flight shot.

House Martin

Bearded Tit

 

Lazar and I had a discussion about where to proceed with more shelter and we decided to check out the forest area near the visitor centre.  This was a good idea as we had superb views of Common Redstart here, as well as Golden Oriole, Nightingale and common woodland species. Eventually we located three singing male Wood Warblers, including one very co-operative bird.  The dense canopy made the photos rather noisy with most of the light shut out.  But still, unrivalled views. 

During our coffee break we had a Montagu's Harrier overhead.

Common Redstart (female)

Common Redstart (male)

Wood Warbler

After a search for a Little Bittern, which had been heard barking recently at a nearby bog, we gave up after an hour and drove to Lauwersoog for a lunch break of fish and chips. Here, we also had Common Tern and Turnstone.

Replete, we headed for the excellent wetlands at Ezumakeeg. Numerous wader species were here including Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff and Curlew Sandpiper as well as a 1st winter Little Gull. We spent a couple of hours here and I snapped a lot of Ruff parading around in their pompous breeding plumage.

Herring Gull

Swallow

Little Gull

Ruff

By early evening, Lazar and I were nearly birded out, but as we drove back towards Zuidhorn, I alerted Lazar to a Marsh Harrier, which I was certain had landed in a field next to the road. I got out of the car and sure enough there was a male harrier sitting in the weedy field. We had what was certainly my best ever views of this species.  A great way to round off the day.

Marsh Harrier

I began the next day with a pre-breakfast walk, where I had a Spotted Flycatcher and a singing Short-toed Treecreeper, which landed on a tree right in front of me.

After breakfast I met up with Martijn and a small group of Dutch birders, who had enrolled on a weekend's tour of the area and I was joining them for a day.  It was if anything windier than the previous day, but we set off north east to the coast near the German border.  The tide was well out here and the water levels were low, but we still had good numbers of birds including nice views of Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet with young, Grey Plover, Yellow Wagtail and Bluethroat.

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Short-toed Treecreeper

Black-tailed Godwit

Avocet

Driving inland, we settled on an area of farmland with a patchwork of open fields. We soon located a pair of Montagu's Harriers, but the male was determined to evade us, although the ringtail showed much better. A few miles away we located another male, but it never came particularly close.  I did at least get a nice habitat shot.

Montagu's Harrier (female)

Montagu's Harrier (male)

After a spot of lunch, we headed back to Groningen in order to explore the areas around Tusschenwater Tusschenwater and Oostpolder.

Almost our first bird on getting out of the minibus was an adult Sea Eagle. On the pools there were good numbers of Black-winged Stilt, Great Crested Grebes and Black-necked Grebes.

White-tailed Sea Eagle

Common Swift

Black-winged Stilt

Yellow Wagtail

Spoonbill

Moving on to the next site Martjn located a distant Glossy Ibis, which was a new bird for my Dutch list. There were also Whiskered Terns here, which is the speciality of this area.

Whiskered Tern

The following day I had a very early breakfast and caught a train to Utrecht, where I was met by my friend Hans Overduin, who provided the transport for the day, organised by Menno Van Duin of Birding Netherlands.

We began at Oostvaardersplassen but in an entirely different area from four days earlier.  We walked through a wooded area where we could hear Nightingale, Garden Warbler, Robin and various other species of that habitat. 

Eventually we accessed an open raised area overlooking farmland and stands of poplar.  We had superb views of Goshawk here, as well as Common Buzzard and a spectacular moment where a male Golden Oriole burst out of the woods chasing a Cuckoo. Eventually Hans picked up a large distant raptor and we were able to identify as a Short-toed Eagle, which had been present in the area for a few days. Another new species for my Dutch list.

Goshawk

On the walk back to the car we had a Little Grebe.

Moving to another spot in Flevoland near Zeewolde, we searched for a 1st summer Common Rosefinch, it was heard to sing within few minutes and we eventually located the bird and it showed well in the bins, but was hard to photograph. We also had a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in flight here as well as a pair of Bullfinches.

Common Rosefinch

Hearing that a male Little Bittern was present at Nuldernauw on the border of Flevoland and Gelderland, maybe I would have my best chance yet of seeing this species in the Netherlands. The bird was along a river lined with a reedbed.  After a short wait the bird could be heard barking and at last Hans could see the bird and at length got me onto the bird and I had good if brief views and Hans snatched a photo. This was my 280th species in the Netherlands. As a foreigner, the next 20 will be quite a challenge, although I do have some easy gaps, mainly winter species.

Little Bittern (Hans Overduin)

Reed Warbler

Garden Warbler

Common Redshank

We finished the day by pulling in a Great Reed Warbler at Dijkpolder in South Holland and we had very good views of the bird as it sang. This particular individual's song was rather odd and sounded rather Reed Warbler-like for much of the time.

Great Reed Warbler

Hans dropped me off at Hoek Van Holland in the evening after a very full and successful day.  I hope to be back for the Dutch Birding weekend on Texel in May 2023.

Birding Holland

Birding Netherlands