The Netherlands in Winter

Naturetrek Tour Report 25 February - 1 March 2019

Group Birding Holland Purple Sandpiper

Red-throated Diver Inlagen Schouwen- d

Report and photos compiled by Gerald Broddelez

Naturetrek Mingledown Barn Wolf's Lane Chawton Alton Hampshire GU34 3HJ UK T: +44 (0)1962 733051 E: [email protected] W: www.naturetrek.co.uk

Tour Report The Netherlands in Winter

Tour participants: Gerald Broddelez (Leader) with eight Naturetrek clients

Day 1 Monday 25th February

Lille – Goes –Renesse This holiday began with a Eurostar departure from St Pancras to Lille in northern France, where we were met by Gerald. After picking up everyone at Lille station we drove north through Belgium and into Zeeland, the most southerly province of the Netherlands. We arrived at our accommodation for the night in good time for a first exploration of the area.

Some people went for a walk in the nearby marshes and dunes and found a good selection of birds including more than 30 Red-throated Divers on the sea giving great views.

After an excellent five course meal we hit our warm rooms, ready for a good night’s sleep after a long day travelling.

Day 2 Tuesday 26th February

Brouwersdam- Goeree – Strijen – Nunspeet After a tasty breakfast it was only a very short drive to our first stop to the Inlagen on Schouwen-Duiveland, a birder’s mecca.

Here we scoped the thousands of Barnacle Goose, Curlew and Avocet, compared Spotted and Common Redshank, Little Ringed and Golden Plover.

Great and Little Egrets were common, while 11 Spoonbills were less so, and the lakes held loads of Gadwall, Wigeon, Pintail, Teal and, best of all, two pairs of smart Smew.

It was then on to the Brouwersdam. No wind and sun made for fantastic conditions for wildlife viewing. We found Black-necked, Red-necked (almost in summer gear) and Great-crested Grebes, Turnstone and the rare Purple Sandpiper feeding side by side, more Red-throated Divers, Black Scoter, Common Eider and Goldeneye!

A stop at the far end produced more Red-throated Divers, Brent Goose and an unexpected Black Guillemot and Razorbill!

We then spend a great part of the afternoon scanning tens of thousands of Barnacle and Great White-fronted Geese near Strijen but could not find any of the rarities reported, so we drove north to Flevoland, our next destination on the tour.

A closed motorway caused some delays but we arrived in time for a well-deserved dinner!

The Netherlands in Winter Tour Report

Day 3 Wednesday 27th February

Nunspeet – Oostvaardersplassen Flevoland Today Joost took over. From our base we drove to the Dodaarsweg in the Flevopolder, where we had fantastic views of a Rough-legged Buzzard. The bird gave a flyby first, but then decided to perch so we could admire and study the bird through our scopes for as long as we wanted. In the same view we had an immature Hen Harrier preening itself!

We also saw many other birds of prey such as Buzzard and Kestrel plus more than 10 Great Egrets and 22 Roe Deer feeding on the juicy grass or the abundance of voles and other rodents in the fields.

Then we continued on to the Praambult. Here we were welcomed by thousands of Barnacle, Greylag and Greater White-fronted Geese. Another Rough-legged Buzzard was a bonus as was a fly-by Goshawk.

A family of Tundra Swan was a target bird for the trip and mammals were well represented with Red Deer, Heck Cattle and Konick Horses. By the trail we found a singing Willow Tit, a rarity nowadays!

At the Poelruiter many duck were present, including Pochard, Shoveler, Teal, Wigeon and a pair of Smew . A Water Rail was heard calling from the reeds first, before showing itself to the group.

For lunch we drove to the Knardijk. Then on via the Oostvaarder dijk to the visitor centre by the Jan van den Boschpad. Here we quickly found three Caspian Gulls, while a White-tailed Eagle flying overhead, caused the many thousands of geese to take to the air - what a fantastic spectacle!

From the balcony of the visitor centre we found another White-tailed Eagle perched in a distant birch tree being harassed by Carrion Crows. We finally ended this very sunny and warm day (up to 18°C, a February record!) by adding a few Snipe, Avocet, Raven and Short-toed Treecreeper to our list.

Day 4 Thursday 28th February

Harger And Pettemerpolder Today the plan was to drive via the dijk from Lelystad to Enkhuizen. Many nature reserves are being established along this dijk and a short stop produced good numbers of Great Egret and several Goosander and Red-breasted Merganser.

Along the dijk we also found good numbers of Great-crested Grebe and Tufted Duck despite the light mist.

We finally arrived at the Harger and Pettemer polder. Here the polders are full with tens of thousands of Greater White-fronted and Barnacle Geese which we carefully scanned through for anything unusual.

We had lunch near De Putten and found our frst Black-tailed Godwit in the company of a few Redshank and Lapwing.

2 © Naturetrek November 20

The Netherlands in Winter Tour Report

Two female Smew, a group of Avocet and Little Grebe kept us further entertained, and then finally as the sun broke through, four Lesser White-fronted Goose decided to show - a great reward for the many hours of scanning and one of the rarest birds on the trip!

Late afternoon we drove back to our base in Nunspeet for our final evening meal in the Netherlands.

Day 5 Friday 1st March

Nunspeet – Lille After breakfast we drove south to Utrecht in search of more geese. It took a while but we finally found a large mixed Barnacle/White-fronted flock at very close range. We scanned carefully for any of the rarer geese but all we found was Greylag and Canada Goose. A pair of Little Owls briefly put in a appearance as did several Gadwall.

It was then time to head south, stopping for lunch en route.

In the late afternoon we arrived in Lille station where we boarded our Eurostar train back to London via the Channel Tunnel, and on arrival at St Pancras International we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, taking with us memories of the bird-filled skies and wetlands of the southern Netherlands.

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The Netherlands in Winter Tour Report

Species Lists

Birds (✓=recorded but not counted) February/March Common name Scientific name 25 26 27 28 1 1 Greylag Goose Anser anser ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 2 Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 3 Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus 4 4 Canada Goose Branta canadensis ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 5 Brant Goose Branta bernicla ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 6 Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 7 Mute Swan Cygnus olor ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 8 Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus 4 1 9 Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiacus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 10 Common Shelduck Tadorna tadorna ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 11 Gadwall Anas strepera ✓ ✓ ✓ 12 Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 13 Mallard Anas platyrhynchos ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 14 Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 15 Northern Pintail Anas acuta ✓ 16 Eurasian Teal Anas crecca ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 17 Common Pochard Aythya ferina ✓ ✓ 18 Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 19 Common Eider Somateria mollissima ✓ 20 Common Scoter Melanitta nigra ✓ ✓ 21 Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula ✓ ✓ ✓ 22 Smew Mergellus albellus ✓ ✓ ✓ 23 Goosander Mergus merganser ✓ 24 Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator ✓ ✓ ✓ 25 Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus ✓ ✓ 26 Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata 30+ ✓ ✓ 27 Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 28 Red-necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena 1 29 Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 30 Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis 8+ 31 Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia ✓ 32 Grey Heron Ardea cinerea ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 33 Great Egret Ardea alba ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 34 Little Egret Egretta garzetta ✓ ✓ 35 Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 36 Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus ✓ ✓ ✓ 37 Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis ✓ ✓ 38 Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus ✓ ✓ 39 White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla 2 40 Rough-legged Buzzard Buteo lagopus 2 41 Common Buzzard Buteo buteo ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 42 Water Rail Rallus aquaticus 1 43 Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 44 Eurasian Coot Fulica atra ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 45 Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 46 Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta ✓ ✓ ✓ 47 Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

The Netherlands in Winter Tour Report

February/March Common name Scientific name 25 26 27 28 1 48 European Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria ✓ 49 Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola ✓ 50 Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula ✓ ✓ 51 Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago ✓ ✓ ✓ 52 Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata ✓ ✓ ✓ 53 Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa 1 54 Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus 2 55 Common Redshank Tringa totanus ✓ ✓ 56 Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres ✓ ✓ ✓ 57 Purple Sandpiper Calidris maritima ✓ 58 Ruff Calidris pugnax ✓ 59 Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 60 Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus ✓ ✓ 61 Caspian Gull Larus cachinnans 4 62 European Herring Gull Larus argentatus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 63 Razorbill Alca torda 1 64 Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle 1 65 Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus ✓ ✓ ✓ 66 Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major ✓ ✓ 67 European Green Woodpecker Picus viridis ✓ ✓ ✓ 68 Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 69 Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus 1 70 Eurasian Jay Garrulus glandarius 1 71 Eurasian Magpie Pica pica ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 72 Western Jackdaw Coloeus monedula ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 73 Rook Corvus frugilegus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 74 Carrion Crow Corvus corone ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 75 Northern Raven Corvus corax ✓ 76 Willow Tit Poecile montanus 2 77 Eurasian Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 78 Great Tit Parus major ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 79 Eurasian Skylark Alauda arvensis ✓ ✓ 80 Cettis Warbler Cettia cetti 1 81 Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus ✓ 82 Goldcrest Regulus regulus ✓ 83 Eurasian Wren Troglodytes troglodytes ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 84 Short-toed Treecreeper Certhia brachydactyla 2 85 Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 86 Common Blackbird Turdus merula ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 87 Song Thrush Turdus philomelos ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 88 European Robin Erithacus rubecula ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 89 European Stonechat Saxicola rubicola 2 90 House Sparrow Passer domesticus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 91 Dunnock Prunella modularis ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 92 White Wagtail Motacilla alba ✓ 93 Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 94 Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 95 Twite Linaria flavirostris ✓ ✓ ✓ 96 Common Linnet Linaria cannabina ✓ 97 Red Crossbill Loxia curvirostra 1 98 Eurasian Siskin Spinus spinus ✓

The Netherlands in Winter Tour Report

February/March Common name Scientific name 25 26 27 28 1 99 Common Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus ✓ ✓

Mammals 1 European Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus ✓ 2 Brown Hare Lepus europaeus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 3 Roe Deer Capreolus capreolus ✓ ✓ 4 Red Deer Cervus elaphus ✓ ✓ 5 Vole sp ✓

Butterflies 1 Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni 1 2 Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta 1 3 Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae 1