Belgium
and Holland – June 2006
by
Andrew Bluett
NB – “The
Book” I refer to in the text is Hamlyn Birdwatching Guide “Where to Watch
Birds in Holland, Belgium and Northern France” by Van Den Berg and Lafontaine,
ISBN 0 600 57977 8 and my “Atlas or Map” is the Michelin “Benelux” road
atlas at 1:150,000 (1 cm to 1.5 km). Where to Watch… is now 10 years old and
somewhat out of date but is the best (only!) book available. The road atlas is
2006 edition , easier to handle than paper sheets and the best scale available
for the money – recommended!
Saturday
10th June 2006 - Gloucester to Ypres
I
was awake early at 5.30am, finished packing the last few items into the car and
left home at 7am. It was a fairly uneventful journey down to the M4 to the M25.
I had made good progress and had a spare hour so settled on a diversion via
Dungeness, rather than have an extra hour sitting in line for the ferry.
To
this point I hadn’t seen much in the way of birds, a few Crows,
Jackdaws and Magpies,
a couple of Kestrels but little else. At Ashford
I turned off the motorway, headed down to Lydd and then to Dungeness. I crossed
Romney Marsh; the Dickensian wetland was now a wide flat area of drained
farmland, ploughed and planted with Rape and Grains of various sorts.
At
Dungeness the power station hove into view, I crossed Denge Marsh, (not a marsh
at all but a wide plain of very dry shingle beds undulating with the form of
their creation showing the wave patterns of a former sea edge). It was a
remarkable landscape that I had only seen previously from the air on the way
home from Mediterranean holidays, the vegetation was mainly of large beds of
Valerian, Sea Kale and other succulent and dry habitat shrubs and flowers which
seemed quite alien in a “green and pleasant land”. The RSPB reserve to the
west of the road was based on the shingle beds and the large pools. The bird
life consisted mainly of Mute Swan, Cormorant,
Oystercatcher, Gulls
and Ducks of various sorts. On the shingle beds
themselves there were Wheatear, Reed
Bunting, Skylark and Whitethroat,
and a few Magpies which hereabouts nest in
scrubby dwarf Hawthorn just about three feet deep so that the nest dome rises
above the thorns.
I
headed east along the route of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway towards
the A20 and then to Dover where I checked in at 12:10pm, lined up and settled
down to wait for my loading time. Sailing time was due to be 2pm, but the ferry
was a little late and we cast off closer to 2:35pm. It was a flat calm and easy
crossing, brilliant sunshine, quite hot, though with a cool wind out at sea.
Birds
seen from the ferry were limited; Herring and Lesser
Black-backed Gulls, two Fulmars and a couple of small groups of Racing
Pigeons heading back to the continent which overtook us.
The first was a group of ten, the second was a group of four, one of
which broke off and landed on the boat, hitching a lift all the way in to
Dunkerque harbour before lifting off and going on it’s way! As we followed the
coastline to Dunkerque I noticed a few Terns
close to the shoreline but too far away to identify accurately.
In
Dunkerque it took a little while to disembark but once off the ferry I headed
out towards the A16 and drove north-east towards Belgium. There were Herring
and Lesser Black-backed Gulls around the harbour
and the first bird of note in France was a Kestrel
followed a little later by Woodpigeons. The
landscape around Dunkerque was industrialised and noticeably very flat. The
farmland was mainly cultivated with Rape or winter wheat and some hay meadows. I
crossed over to the A25 and headed for Ypres. A distant large bird of prey
floated over the fields to the north, it looked very much like a Marsh
Harrier. Along the way another Kestrel
appeared, more Woodpigeons, a Grey
Partridge took off and flew overhead with wings buzzing before it
disappeared into another field. Blackbirds and House
Sparrows appeared on the roadside.
I
found my way down to Ypres and headed into the town centre, with the Menin Gate
as a landmark I found my way to Leopold III-laan and the Jeugdstadion sports
centre where I found the camp site entrance on the far side of the block. It was
after 7.30 when I checked in, so I drove straight back out and round to Leopold
III-laan and parked up so that I could walk up to the Menin Gate for the last
post ceremony.
This
was something of a pilgrimage, as I waited with a crowd of over 200 others my
mind wandered back to my grand-father who had served somewhere here in the Duke
of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. At 8pm the service started, quite simple, but
very moving, there were five buglers and an MC who made the announcements in
English as well as Dutch. He read out the names of all those who had died in the
second week of June from each of the years of the war, wreaths and poppies were
laid. I spent some time looking around the lists of names; I found a Blewitt,
and around 200 officers and men of the Gloucestershire Regiment.
The
moat (rather than canal) below the Menin bridge and gate had Coots
with young on it and Reed Warblers singing from
the reeds along the edge. Back at the camp site I put up the tent and sorted
myself out. Around the campsite there were the ubiquitous Blackbirds,
Blackcap, Lesser
Whitethroat and a couple of Magpies, I
heard a Curlew call as it flew over somewhere to
the north.
I
walked back into the town centre for a look around and after some time sight
seeing I stopped in one of the pavement bars for a beer, and then wandered back
to the site for a late supper. Just off the Leopold III-laan I found a nature
reserve, “Natur in der stadt” (Nature in the town), a mixture of pasture,
reed beds and small pools which held Reed Warbler,
Lesser Whitethroat and Marsh
Frogs chirping and belching their songs in the gloom. I had seen a lot of
Swifts dashing and screaming above the town and a
single Swallow on the way to the centre.
I
finished my coffee, made my notes and got ready to turn in. It had been a great
day, hot and cloudless, up to 31°C, and was a still balmy
evening with a clear sky.
Sunday
11th June - The Ijzer Valley to
Cadzand and Nieuwvliet
I
woke to the sound of Cuckoo calling, Turtle
Dove purring, Blackcap and Blackbird,
Icterine Warbler and Wren
singing. After breakfast I started to clear up, packed the tent and gear into
the car and moved off. It was another clear, blue and cloudless morning; it
looked as if the day was going to be a hot one. I managed to find the Diksmuide
road out of town, stopped at a small bakery for croissants and then headed off
into the countryside towards Boezinge.
Not
far along the road I stopped to take a look at the canal alongside the road just
outside the town of Boezinge. Immediately I got out of the car I was aware of a
bird of prey directly above me, just above the tree tops – a glorious if
somewhat scruffy Honey Buzzard (see pic left) instantly
identifiable by the barred underside and odd head (compared with a Common
Buzzard). It circled lazily
upwards and drifted away towards the south and was then immediately followed by
a Hobby flying fast and low. A Great
Spotted Woodpecker called from the Poplar trees. Back in the car I drove
on in search of Blankaart, there were a few Crows,
plenty of Wood Pigeons and a single Lapwing
along the way.
At
Blankaart I pulled into the car park on the road side, found a shady spot and
brewed up coffee and ate my croissants. It was a glorious day and getting
hotter. I gathered binoculars and camera together and set off down the path to
the castle, not old, but a classic building, beautiful in its relatively simple
style, built with red brick and decorated with stone detailing. The path skirted
around the garden and through the woodland down the right hand side of the
valley behind the castle which led down to the lake. I found Red
Admiral, Peacock,
Speckled Wood and Orange Tip
butterflies, Great and Blue
Tits flittered about, I saw a Robin which
was to prove a rare sight over the next few days and Dunnock,
Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. A Green
Woodpecker called from the trees in the meadow and a Great
Spotted Woodpecker flew through the woodland.
Out
of the woodland the landscape opened to water meadows on the right (north) and
the lake on the left. There were Dragonflies
and Damsels, Hawkers
and Chasers everywhere, green Marsh
Frogs (see pic left) croaked, chirped and belched their songs from the path edges,
jumping into cover as I approached. The lake is large and much of it is
inaccessible though the path leads on down to a delightful little tower hide of
newly stained timber overlooking the lake and vast reed beds. A Cuckoo
called, Whitethroat sang in the meadow scrub and
hedges, a Cetti's Warbler blasted out short
bursts of song close to the path by the boat house, Reed
Warbler sang from the reeds by the lake and in the ditches, Great
Crested Grebe, Cormorant,
Mallard, Coot,
Moorhen, and Mute Swan were on the water, Swallows
hawked for insects, a Marsh Harrier,
Kestrel, and probable Hobby all hunted
over the reed beds and meadows in the distance on the far southern side of the
lake. On the walk back Wren, Robin,
Song Thrush, Blackbird,
Blackcap and Garden
Warbler sang from cover and the trees. I stopped on the bridge and
watched the Jackdaws that were nesting in a large
hollow Ash and a small group of Feral Pigeons, two of which took to landing on the water so that
they could drink.
Back
at the car I re-read the notes about Blankaart in the book, it was a shadow of
its former self and just a little disappointing. I guess the flooded winter
water meadows would probably have held all sorts of species and because of their
extent would probably have been quite impressive, but this was late spring and
the breeding species were not terribly numerous.
I
climbed into the car at mid-day and made my way northward again. I drove through
Diksmuide to the junction of the N35 and crossed over the Ijzer, then turned
immediately right to follow the river as it meandered to the north-west through
Dodengange. I saw a Heron, Coots, Moorhens and Mallards
then a short way beyond Dodengange, I caught the song of a bird in the ditch by
the road side. I stopped and walked back a short way to listen. It very soon
became apparent that there were at least 3 male Marsh
Warblers in full song and competing with one another. The habitat was a
deep ditch between the road and farmland, phragmites reeds in the bottom and a
graduation up the bank of nettles, thistles, coarse grasses and reeds, docks and
other herbage. They didn’t show very well, I caught fleeting glimpses of them
as they moved from one song post to another but for the most part they sang just
inside the cover of the leaf canopy in the Hawthorns that punctuated the top of
the bank. I suppose this was hardly surprising in the heat of the afternoon, it
was now over 30°C. Just across the field a small
farmhouse stood with a red tiled roofed barn at right angles to the house. A
small dark bird perched atop the gable and sang brief snatches of song, a Black
Redstart looking very smart in charcoal and red!
I
moved on a short way and came across a pair of quite large but shallow flash
pools just before the junction with the road to Stevenskuirke. A chain link
fence and a gate separated them from the road but there was plenty of space to
park the car and get out the telescope and tripod. Several dozen Lapwings
were spaced out around the edges of the pools, a dozen pairs each of Ringed
Plovers and Avocets wandered about in the
shallows and on the sandbanks, there were a few Black-tailed
Godwits and Oystercatchers, all of which
had young with them in various numbers, Mallard,
Shelducks with young and Tufted
Ducks floated on the water. In the small rough corner of the field which
had been planted with Poplar and Willow at least two Sedge
Warblers sang, as did a third across the road behind me on the river
bank. For a small reserve it was impressive and the birds were so viewable. I
turned the car around and only then realized that 100 metres back along the road
was a “Vogel hut” (hide) tucked in between the trees.
I
moved on again and headed for Mannekensvere. The birds were much of a muchness
from there on, a few Reed and Sedge
Warblers, Oystercatchers and Lapwings
in the fields but little else of note. In the heat of the late afternoon I drove
on to Oudenburg and Brugge (Bruges), to Maldegem, then north to Aardenburg and
Ooustburg. I explored the countryside around St Margriete, Waterland Ouderman
and St Jan-in-Eremo to the south east of Ooustburg. Again there wasn’t much of
great interest, a few Linnets, Whitethroat, Stonechat,
odd Oystercatchers and Lapwings,
Crows and Pigeons.
The high point of the afternoon came at Stroopuit 4km south east of Ooustburg,
where I came across a male Marsh Harrier hunting
over a vast potato field. Within a few seconds he was being chased and mobbed by
a Lapwing which followed him for some distance
until he disappeared away into the distance beyond a belt of Poplars.
I
drove then north to Zuidzand and Cadzand Bad, (a sea-side town complete with
buckets, spades and windbreaks) in search of a camp site. I found a few Tree
Sparrows, saw a couple of Grey Partridge (see pic left) and yet more Oystercatchers
and Lapwings. I eventually found a decent camp
site between Zuidzand and Cadzand on the outskirts of Hedenesse, called “De
Wielevaal”. This was a delightful spot in very flat polder land, formerly a
farm and surrounded by fields of grass, grain crops and potatoes. The various
areas for caravans and tents were divided by windbreak hedges with tall elegant
Poplars dotted about the site.
There
were Swallows hawking about, Grey
Partridges feeding on the grassy areas and Blackbirds
singing from the trees. The site name “De Wielevaal” is Dutch for Golden
Oriole. When I booked in I was delighted to find a life sized carved and
painted Oriole mounted on a block of wood on the
desk, my instant question to the lady was “Do you have these here?” Her less
than hopeful reply was “Sometimes, but they are shy and do not like the
people!” Perhaps now is the time to mention that Shelduck
are named after the Dutch word for piebald – a reference of course to their
black, white and chestnut colouring.
I
pitched the tent, had a cup of tea, dinner, a shower and a change of clothes. At
9pm I set out to explore some more and see what else might be worth looking for
in the morning. I had already worked out that if the hot weather were to
continue, it would be sensible to be birding in the morning and evening, and
driving in air conditioned comfort through the heat of the afternoons.
The
first thing of note was a Meadow Pipit singing
over a field of potatoes. I drove directly through Schoondijke to Nummer Een on
the coast, where from the top of the sea dike I discovered a very large
triangular pool above the mudflats with a cycle track around it. In the pool was
a very large triangular island which held an enormous colony of Black-headed
Gulls and Terns, there seemed to be at
least a couple of pairs of Avocet and other
things but in the gathering gloom I decided another look in the morning would be
more sensible. The sunset was fantastic, the orange ball of the sun turned to
blood red as it hit the cloud bank out at sea on the horizon. On the way back I
saw more Oystercatchers, Pheasants
and more Grey Partridges.
Back
at the tent I looked at the atlas and read the notes in the book to look for
more ideas for the morning over a cup of coffee, then prepared to turn in for
the night. As I settled down to sleep I heard from the potato field beyond the
hedgerow, the clear and distinct notes of a Stone Curlew
calling in the gathering dark – this I had not expected!
Monday
12th June - Zeeland, Zuid Holland and to Noord Holland
(NB
- Holland properly refers only to the provinces around Rotterdam and Amsterdam
– the country as a whole is The Netherlands!)
I
was awake just after 6:30am, had breakfast and coffee then began to sort myself
out for the day. It was cloudless and bright again, promised to be very hot, so
I opted for shorts and T-shirt. The Grey Partridges
were on the campsite again, but apart from the Blackbirds
and Swallows there was little else to record. I
broke camp and loaded the car, then set out into the countryside.
I
drove up to Nieuwvliet and then to Groede where I turned south into the polder
land. I came to a road junction near Tragel and again picked up the song of a Marsh
Warbler from the rough corner of a field just beyond the edge of the
road. I parked up and wandered over to find there were three males singing
against one another in a group of Hawthorns and small Apple trees at the field
edge. Just like the birds yesterday they were not very willing to show
themselves but I again caught fleeting glimpses and listened to the various
songs for some time. I soon realised there was a fourth bird on the other side
of the road on the inside of the corner of the junction. He was in a more open
area so I grabbed the camera and tried watching him for a while. He was more
inclined to show than the others, but still he wasn’t easy to see, he was
similarly inclined to sing from cover and only became visible when moving from
one song post to another.
I
just stood and watched and listened for a while. A lady in the cottage a hundred
yards away was hanging out washing and noticed me there. She strutted over to
see what I was up to and started gabbling in Dutch. I apologised and said I
spoke only English, she looked at me and said “Ah, Eenglish” then indicated
that she spoke none of that. I responded by showing her the camera and
binoculars and said “Vogel”, then pointed to the latest Marsh
Warbler song post from which the silvery notes were emanating and said
“Der Bosrietsanger, beautiful song!” She began to get the message, replied
“Ja, beautiful”, gabbled some more in Dutch and then with a cheery wave,
headed back to her garden. It had by now been close to an hour, so I climbed
back into the car and drove on again.
To
the north, between the Krabbendijk and the Scherpbierseweg I found the lakes
that showed on the map, an extensive area of water of various depths which
suited a large variety of birds. I pulled over and got the telescope out to scan
the area. There were quite a few Avocets,
Blue-headed Wagtail, Black-tailed Godwit,
a moderate Black-headed Gull colony, Lapwing,
Shelduck, Barnacle and Greylag
Geese, Garganey and Shoveler,
Reed and
Sedge Warbler, a Marsh Harrier that
flapped lazily over and “shuffled the pack”, Linnets,
Reed Buntings and a Black-necked
Grebe. From amongst the Black-headed Gulls
came the softer calls of a Mediterranean Gull, I
couldn’t pick it out since the majority of the gulls were on the ground
amongst the reeds and sedges and were therefore out of sight, but amid the
cacophony, the call was so different it stood out like a beacon.
I
moved on again and headed for Voorland Nummer Een which was easy to see from
some way off being landmarked by the odd shaped modernistic block of flats and
the twin wind turbines by the road. I parked the car, gathered together
telescope and binoculars, camera and tripod and set off up and over the dike,
then down the track on the other side to the cycle track on the foreshore from
where I could walk down to the edge of the triangular lake I had found yesterday
evening.
I
set up the tripod and scope, scanned with the glasses to pick out the
interesting birds before going back to the scope for a closer look. There were
several hundred Black-headed Gulls, a couple of
hundred Common Terns with a good few Arctic's
dotted about, there were also several pairs of Little
Terns. I could see at least three pairs of Avocets,
two females were sitting on nests amongst the gulls; there were Lapwings,
Oystercatchers, Kentish and Ringed
Plovers, Shelduck and a couple of Cormorants.
Something upset the birds so that many of them rose skyward; I looked up and
found a pale Buzzard floating over heading out
over the Wester Schelde. This disturbance led to much noise from the gulls and
again, I heard the distinctive calls of a Mediterranean
Gull. I scanned around and quickly found one pair at least; chunky,
stocky gulls that stood out from the Black-heads
around them. An old boy on a bicycle came along the track, parked his bike and
came over. Just like the old lady earlier in the morning I was greeted with a
torrent of Dutch. I put out my hand, shook his and again, apologised and said
“I’m English!” The reaction was the same as before – he understood
little and spoke none, the conversation died on its feet but he had a look
through the telescope anyway, and then with a smile he wandered back to his bike
and trundled off. I shouldered the gear and returned to the car, then set off
eastwards again towards Hoofdplat.
I
followed the dike road through Hoofdplat and turned south to Paulina Polder,
then Biervliet and on towards Turnheusen. Just to the east of Biervliet I came
across the Noord Braakman Nature Reserve, one of a pair of wetland, polder and
woodland reserves, the other half being the Zuid Braakman Reserve on the south
side of the N61. I followed the signs and drove around the gravel tracks
stopping here and there to scan with the glasses. The reserve is large, bounded
to the north by the Braakmankreek, an inlet from the Wester Schelde, and is a
mixture of mainly Poplar woodland, shallow flash pools, deeper ponds, reed beds,
rough grassland, sandy, heathy ground with thin grasses and deep rich wild
flower meadows. As with all of the pools so far I found Avocet,
Black-tailed Godwit, Lapwings and Ringed
Plover, also Cattle Egret,
Egyptian Goose, White Wagtail, Green
and Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chiffchaff,
Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Garden
Warbler, Reed and
Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting,
Icterine Warbler etc.
Back
on the road I headed towards Turnheusen, then north on the N62 and into the
Wester Schelde Tunnel. This is a remarkable feat of engineering, it dips and
rolls deep under the Wester Schelde for over 5 kilometres, rising back into the
daylight on Zuid Beveland and costs the princely sum of €4.40 to traverse. I
headed on northward to Middleburg, then onto Nord Beveland and to the southern
end of the Stormvloedkering. This is a dike with a dual carriageway across the
Oosterschelde to the artificial island of Neeltje Jans and then on to Schouwen
Duiveland. On the island there is a marina, a water park (Alton Towers for kids
in swimming gear) and beaches, all disguising the real purpose of the dike which
is to keep central Holland free of the ravages of the North Sea. The sluices
either side of the island which control the flood tides are fantastic, they make
the Thames Barrier look like a Lego set and if the threat of the Severn Barrier
is to become a reality, I strongly suggest the British government get Dutch
engineers to do the job for them!
I
stopped for a short break on the Neeltje Jans and found Whitethroat and Meadow Pipit in the
grassy scrubby areas by the road and both Lesser Black-backed
and Herring Gulls nesting in the sandy dune-like
areas.
Almost
as soon as I got onto Schouwen Duiveland I noticed on the right of the main
road, a series of flash pools, possibly formerly salt pans just inside the line
of the sea dike so got off the main road and by taking two right turns I found
my way back to where I could park up on a minor road and overlook them. This
site, close to Burghsluis, turned out to be a part of the Naturemonument
Oosterschelde which covers this whole section of the delta and was a little gem
of a place.
As
for the previous wetlands there were the ubiquitous Avocet,
Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Ringed
Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Reed
Warbler and Shelduck, also Common
Tern, Black-necked Grebe,
Redshank, Meadow Pipit, Black-headed
Gulls and Starling. All of the birds were
more or less disturbed when a Buzzard floated in
over the pools and swung around to land on a fence post at the far side. As soon
as the Buzzard was perched and settled, all of
the waders settled and from then on completely ignored it. The Avocets
and other waders were generally in the shallow flash pools, some had young, the Starlings
were in the grassy areas busily looking for food and the Black-necked
Grebe was on a deeper pond at the western end.
Half
a mile or so back towards the main road the deeper pools at Burghsluis offered
less variety, but more Avocets and Redshanks,
Black-tailed Godwits
and a couple of Ringed Plovers.
After
an hour or so watching the goings on at these two sites I had a look at the
atlas to work out what I would do next. I had plans to go to Texel and it was a
matter of deciding when I would do that versus what else there was in the delta.
There are of course many sites which are tempting but I decided most of them
would be similar to what I had already seen. I also had an idea for the latter
half of the week which involved a return journey through Friesland and Flevoland
so the conclusion was that I would do Texel tomorrow, Tuesday. That meant I
needed to be in the north later today, ready for an early ferry to the island so
I headed for Serooskerke, then across the Brouwersdam to Ouddorp, crossed the
Haringvlietdam then north east towards Rotterdam where I picked up the A13 to
Delft, Leiden, the outskirts of Amsterdam, Haarlem and Alkmaar and beyond
towards Den Helder.
I
spent some time then trawling around the polders near Schagen, Callantsoog and
Julianasdorp looking for a suitable campsite. Most of them were very large and
commercial, mainly caravan parks and residentials which were no good at all. The
coastal strip is rather like a Dutch version of Blackpool and not very
attractive unless one is intent on a buckets and spades and sand holiday. Had I
though about it more carefully, I could have gone straight for a late ferry to
the island and found a camp site there, but eventually I did find a small site
by the side of the Waardkanaal at Kelhorn. I checked in, pitched the tent and
had dinner and coffee.
During
the time I spent in the polders I saw a lot of Oystercatchers,
Lapwings and a few Black-tailed Godwits, a
few Crows and a lot of Swifts
overhead, quite a few Swallows but very few House
Martins which appear to be uncommon here. I also realised that nowhere
had I seen a single Rook in either Belgium or
Holland, this was strikingly odd as the countryside seemed eminently suitable,
being mainly grassland and arable, and there were plenty of decent trees for
nesting. There had been a few Pheasants and Grey
Partridges during the day and lots of Shelducks
in the farmland. It was noticeable that both the Avocets
and Shelducks I had seen during the day had
young with them, some Avocets were still sitting
on nests, but I couldn’t remember seeing a single Lapwing
or Black-tailed Godwit either sitting, or with
chicks.
I
was preparing to turn in at 10:50pm; it had been a long tiring day and was
beginning to get dark. I had seen some fantastic birds and was very pleased but
the drive up from Westerschelde had been a long one. I finished off with a mug
of tea and crawled into the sleeping bag.
Tuesday
13th June - Texel and across to Frieseland
I
woke early, the camp site was very quiet and peaceful, a Cuckoo
called from the fields beyond the hedge, Blackbirds,
White Wagtails and Jackdaws with young searched for food on the grass in front of the
tent, Jackdaws called from the trees and an Icterine
Warbler sang somewhere nearby. An Avocet
flew over.
I
had breakfast and coffee, got the tent sorted out and tidied up, wandered over
for a shower then dressed for the day and packed all the gear into the car. It
was going to be another hot and sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. I headed
out of the site and across to Schagen, then north to Den Helder. Along the road
a pair of Egyptian Geese were in a field by the
road, they seem to be “locally common” over here, not everywhere, but where
they are, there are usually several.
I
drove in to the centre of Den Helder and simply followed the signs to the Texel
ferry. Den Helder looks like a fascinating town, very maritime and with a lot of
boats of all shapes and sizes, some very old, some very new, and a huge
warehouse complex now houses the Dutch Maritime Museum. On one side of the
museum, they have a complete submarine, mounted on a frame with the keel about
20 feet above the ground so you can see it from all angles.
The
ferry check in was easy, just drive up to the little cabin, pay the man the
€24.50 and line up ready to board. The waiting time was no more than about 20
minutes and then we were onto the ferry and ready to go. I walked up on to the
promenade deck to have a look at the view; a Merganser
took off from the water and headed out to sea. In the Lounge I got a coffee and
as soon as I’d finished drinking it, it was back out on deck to see the boat
sliding into its berth on Texel. This had taken no more than half an hour. There
were several Eiders in the harbour as we sailed
in.
I
drove off the ferry and pulled into the car park to look at the book and decide
what I would do and which direction I’d go around the island. I concluded that
it would be as well to follow the site to site guide in the book, mainly because
it was easier than jumping back and forth, and the route seemed eminently
sensible, up the west side and down the east. So, I headed out towards Den Hoorn
then turned left and around the Mokbaai inlet to De Petten.
De
Petten is a series of flash and deeper pools which are backed and surrounded by
typical polder farmland; it is a delightful nature reserve with a variety of
birds which can all be viewed perfectly easily from the roadside grass verge,
with glasses or telescope either mounted on a tripod or a window bracket. In the
foreground closest to the road artificial mud bank islands have been created for
the Black-headed Gulls which nest in abundance
and Common and Arctic
Terns; Shelducks were dotted about, a
number of Oystercatchers were spread around the
reserve but a group of 30+ concentrated on the grass banks at the back of the
main pool. There were Greylag Geese, one or two Ringed
Plovers, Redshanks and Black-tailed
Godwits thinly scattered across the reserve, but pride of place was
reserved for the Sandwich Terns, a colony of 200+
nesting on a shingle bank towards the back of the pool. They were brash and
noisy and their “patch” was almost exclusively theirs, very few Black-heads
intruded either to nest or for more nefarious purposes.
I
moved on again and followed the instructions to turn left at the next junction
500 metres beyond De Petten and headed for De Geul. The road winds across the
dune belt and skirts around the head of the Mokbaai inlet, I passed a Kestrel,
Linnets, Crows, a Magpie,
several Common Gulls, a singing Meadow
Pipit and large numbers of Greylags with
young along the way. I also saw here one of the famous “box on a post” nest
boxes which the locals put up for Kestrel and Long
Eared Owls to use.
The
Mokbaai is a large tidal salt marshy area which was a bit thin on birds, the
tide being out and the tidal mud being baked by the sun. There were Godwits,
Redshanks and Curlews,
a few Lapwings and Shelducks
but little else of interest. On the right hand side of the road however is a
small raised platform only 100 metres from the road which overlooks the De Geul
pool.
This
pool is set in a depression in the dunes and is over 500m long x 200 wide and is
surrounded by dune scrub and stunted dune woodland. The edges of the pool vary
from stony shallows to deep reed beds and attract all the birds that might be
expected. A colony of 200+ Spoonbills (see pic
below centre) were
nesting with smaller groups of birds dotted around away from the main colony.
From the platform I saw or heard Wren, Willow
Warbler, Jackdaw and Reed
Bunting, Ducks including Mallard,
Gadwall and Shoveler,
30+ pairs of Cormorants nesting in the scrubby
trees, Shelduck and a Kestrel.
One of the highlights of this site is the visibility of the Marsh
Harriers (see pic left), I was sharing the platform with a dozen or so German and Dutch
tourists, not really birders, but interested observers and we were all impressed
by two harriers, one of which swept over and in
front of the platform at less than 50 metres. It was totally unconcerned by us
and just carried on hunting, sometimes near, sometimes up to a kilometre away
over the dunes to the north. A ringtail Hen Harrier
swept in from the north and overflew the scrubby trees beyond the pool before
dropping out of sight over towards the sea to the west, a couple of Crows
flew about and a Cuckoo called from the depths of
the scrub beyond the pool.
After
an hour or so I decided I had to move on and walked back down the ramp to the
car, I drove on a couple of hundred metres and stopped again to have another
look at the Mokbaai inlet. There were a few Cormorant,
more Shelducks and waders, a Reed
Bunting singing lethargically from the reeds below me at the edge of the
tidal salt marsh, more Redshank, Curlew
and Black-tailed Godwit. On the other side of the
road I found a German photographer with a long lens trying to get pictures of
the Marsh Harrier as and when it came down this
way, whilst I was watching him I could hear Wren
and Dunnock, Linnets
and Whitethroat singing, but more remarkably I
caught a few notes which led me to walk over towards a particular patch of
scrub. From deep within the thorn bushes and tangles of bramble etc came the unmistakable
song of a Nightingale! This was totally unexpected; it was after all June and
well over 30oC in bright sunshine!
At
this point I may have made a wrong decision, a few hundred metres further on
there is another boardwalk ramp which leads to a viewing platform at the top of
the dunes. The platform overlooks the twin pools of De Hors, large freshwater
lakes surrounded by dunes and reed beds which are best known for the ducks
and other waterfowl, but which also hold a few Warblers
of various sorts, Reed Bunting
and Bearded Tit. I wasn’t overly attracted to
the ducks, and had plans for warblers
and Bearded Tit elsewhere so moved on. But, the
best laid plans and so on….maybe I should have had a look!
I
drove back to Den Hoorn and then headed north through the area knows as the
Westerduinen. This is a vast area of sand dunes and slacks with a dune and heath
vegetation to match and is reached from the main road by taking various side
roads which lead through mixed oak and pine woodland, out through the heathland
to beach car parks. There were pools dotted about surrounded by great swathes of
yellow Iris flags that reminded me very much of the machair and dunes on the
west of Harris and North Uist. Having thought this, I was stunned to find by one
pool a small herd of 20 or so Highland Cattle
knee deep in mud and flags! The bird life was thin, but interesting and mixed, Black-headed,
Lesser Black-backed, Herring
and Common Gulls, Linnet
and Whitethroat, Curlew
and Lapwing, Buzzard,
Wren, Meadow Pipit and Stonechat.
I
headed on north to De Koog and then west to EcoMare, a very good and fascinating
visitor centre which comprehensively describes and illustrates the landscape,
culture, history and natural history of Texel. Most of the written stuff is in
Dutch, but the models and pictures are so good that words are almost
superfluous. There are several exhibition rooms, a Seal
rescue centre/sanctuary and a bird rescue centre all on the same site. As I
drove away from there I found opposite the entrance, a small colony of Common
Gulls nesting in a wild flower hay meadow surrounded by tall (Spotted?)
Orchids that varied in colour from pale lilac to deep purple. A Cuckoo
called from the far side of the meadow.
I
headed on northward and eventually, after a few not very productive diversions,
reached De Cocksdorp and then the Lighthouse at the most northerly point of the
island. This again was a holiday beach site and with the tide full out there
were few birds of any real interest, a few Linnets
and Greenfinches and a Whitethroat
or two. I decided from the book that the Rosefinches
which are supposed to be around here are few and far between, and are not very
easy to find. One way or another, with all the scantily clad bodies about
seeking the bronzed burnish that comes with spending too much time in the sun I
didn’t feel all that comfortable wandering about with binoculars and a big
lens on the front of the camera, so I headed southward on the minor road that
leads to the lifeboat station and the Polder Wassenaar!
This
is a hay meadow polder that at first looked as if it would be something of a non
event but I pulled up by a small building and scanned around. I found Oystercatcher
and Lapwing, Whitethroat
and Jackdaws and a Magpie
sat on a fencepost. A few Commic Terns
passed over. I then picked up the gem that was a ringtail
Hen Harrier sat on a post out in the meadow, it watched me just as much
as I watched it, then dropped from the post and proceeded to fly up and down
lazily hunting through the grassland. On the opposite side of the road I looked
to the east over the top of the sea dike and found a few Oystercatchers
and again, the Commic Terns.
The
road then led on southward along the eastern side of the island back to De
Cocksdorp and on towards De Bol. Along the way I found ducks
of various sorts, mainly Mallard, Tufted and Shoveler,
a few Oystercatchers and a Marsh
Harrier hunting methodically up and down the grassland and reed beds
beyond the polders.
My
next stop was De Schorren, a very large reserve with very restricted access. It
is a no go area during the breeding season, and only accessible with guided
parties at other times. The key species here is again Spoonbill
which are ground nesters in the middle of a huge salt marsh. From the top of the
sea dike at the southern end it can be overlooked, but with the distance
involved and the heat haze as well, the telescope was almost useless. I could
see them, but not even well enough to count them accurately (supposed to be 50+
pairs); they were just a series of white blobs away out across the landscape.
From this vantage point however I could look out over the foreshore which is
extensive at low tide and see thousands of Black-tailed
Godwits, hundreds of Redshank, Oystercatchers,
Ringed Plovers and Shelducks.
A Meadow Pipit sang not far away, lots of gulls
of various sorts and a few very muddy Eider,
mostly in eclipse plumage.
Heading
down De Lancasterdijk I came to De Bol and the landmark that is the windmill, a
picture book example of a Dutch mill complete with grassland polders behind and
a lake and drainage canal in front. From the top of the dike again I could see
more Oystercatchers, gulls
and a Little Tern fishing just off the
rocky base of the dike where a drainage sluice discharged into the sea. On the
inland side on the mere and canal there were Black-tailed
Godwit, Avocet, Redshank,
assorted geese, ducks and a few Coot.
De Lancasterdijk got its name to commemorate a Lancaster bomber and crew who
crashed here in WW2 – one of the propellers is raised as a memorial sculpture
by the road.
Southward
from De Bol I discovered a number of sites on the inland side of the Ijsdijk.
The first of these was De Wagejot, another flash pools type reserve over 500
metres long with just a few metres of grass between the waters edge and the
road. This enabled very comfortable viewing from the car of dozens of Avocets
(see pic left),
Oystercatchers, godwits,
Redshanks, Shelducks,
Black-headed Gulls, Common and Arctic
Terns. The gulls and terns were nesting with some young wandering about;
the Shelducks had small flotillas of fluffy mint
humbug ducklings, young Oystercatchers dutifully
followed and learnt from parents the key points of foraging for tit-bits and
gangly legged young Avocets picked at the dozens
of flies on the waters surface.
About
half way down the reserve edge I parked the car and climbed out, then carefully
approached the waters edge to a point where I could sit down in the short Phragmites
reeds and long grass and settle down to watch. A pair of Avocets
had two young, several other Avocets wandered
about feeding, a female Shelduck gathered her
brood, an Oystercatcher shepherded a single
youngster and a pair of Redshanks nervously
watched and wandered with their fluffy little bumble-bee like chicks. There was
no fear or disturbance, they took no notice of me whatsoever and got on with
their lives. The Avocets were the boldest and
happily approached to within 15 feet of me as I sat there, completely
transfixed!
After
about 45 minutes I had to move on again towards Oudeschild, soon coming across
yet another series of marshy pools. More Black-headed
Gulls were nesting, more Terns, more Avocets
and Oystercatchers, Redshank
(see pic left), Ringed Plover and Shelduck.
It was a similar story to De Wagejot; I could again approach the waters edge and
sit quietly almost within touching distance of the birds that showed no fear at
all.
I
thought how much of a contrast this was to the wetlands we have in East Anglia
for example, where the idea of approaching so close to the waders, especially
the Avocets, would be viewed with utter horror by the self appointed guardians
of our natural heritage. In The Netherlands however such behaviour seems to be
seen as a perfectly natural and unobstructed right available to anyone
interested enough, and respectful enough, to want it, rather than a privilege
afforded only to the elite and appropriately licensed few. The culture seems to
be aimed at giving unfettered access to the public for whose benefit, after all,
the reserves are established. I found the whole thing to be a profoundly moving
experience, enabled by a sympathetic, encouraging and enlightened view.
Just
to the south of Oudeschild I stopped on the top of the dike from where I could
look out over the sea to the east and the polder land to the west and had my
lunch on a conveniently located picnic table by the cycle track at 5.30pm! By
the time I finished it was after 6.00pm and I had to move on. I drove down to te
Hoorntje and the ferry, enjoying a parting gift from the islands of a Marsh
Harrier hunting over the grassland polders just a few metres away from me
by the roadside.
I
boarded the ferry and headed up on deck to enjoy the trip back to Den Helder. I
watched the Eiders
picking mussels from the rocks and an iron fence which ran down the side of the
slipway to the water. There were dozens of Common,
Black-headed, Lesser
Black-backed and Herring Gulls around and
following the boat. They were being thrown tit-bits and were evidently used to
dining off the generosity of the passengers. There were half-a-dozen Jackdaws
who also came along for the ride and followed the same pattern, collecting from
the deck the bits that the gulls missed. It was again an easy and short crossing
with just time for a coffee before we were back on the mainland.
After
leaving the ferry I headed south through the town past the maritime museum and
alongside the canal with it’s moored boats of all sorts, down to the N99 road
junction, from where I turned east towards Leeuwarden and followed the Balgzand
Kanaal towards the Amstelmeer. Less than half-a-mile along the road, which was a
substantial main route, I noticed a bird of prey stood in the grass on the verge
up ahead. As I approached I was soon able to see that it was a Marsh
Harrier stripping a kill. It was within 15 feet of the road but was
totally unfazed by the traffic and carried on happily consuming the unfortunate
victim!
The
Amstelmeer was covered with large numbers of ducks, geese
and swans, notably Mallard,
Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Greylag,
Barnacle and Egyptian Geese and of course
plenty of Coots and Great
Crested Grebes. I soon reached Den Oever and then joined the A7 motorway
at Stevensluizen to cross the Afsluitsdijk which forms the northern boundary of
the Ijsselmeer. This is another magnificent piece of engineering; the dike is
30km long, rises at least 50m above the water level and carries the two lane
motorway on top. There is a viewpoint and café at the 7km point which enables
spectacular views from the inshore side, and by way of a bridge to the offshore
side. Looking east from the bridge, the motorway just continues in a straight
line out to the horizon and its vanishing point! Birds on the dike at the
viewpoint were Heron, lots of Mute
Swan, Mallard with young, White
Wagtail, Oystercatcher and Shelducks
flying about, Sandwich Terns flying past and
overhead, Cormorant overhead and Black-headed
Gulls.
At
the far end I reached the mainland of Vrieseland and turned off the motorway
towards Makkum in search of a campsite. Within a very short distance I found a
sign indicating a site near Pingjum to the north, so followed the directions and
found it easily. It was a nice little site behind a typical polder land farm
house. I wandered around to the back door and rang the bell; a tall strongly
built figure with tousled hair appeared and looked me up and down. “Hello,
I’d like to stay, one person, one tent, one night” I ventured hopefully. He
looked completely uncomprehending for several seconds, then a huge grin spread
across his square jaw, and he said “So, one person, one tent, one
night…..small tent? (Yes), You come in car or on bike? (Car)….so, that will
be €4.50. You go find a nice spot, there is plenty room, and the grass is very
comfortable so you sleep well!” I thanked him and headed out to find my
“…nice spot”.
I
set up the tent, had a coffee and then decided on a wander around before
returning for dinner. This was polder farmland at its biggest and best, the
rectangular fields stretching to the horizon, divided only by the drainage
ditches that were lined with narrow beds of Phragmites reeds. Back down the road
beyond Wons and towards Makkum I soon found Brown Hares, Lapwing,
Oystercatcher and Black-tailed
Godwits (see pic left) in the fields that had only recently been scalped for silage. I
found my way around the southern edge of Makkum to the Suiderseewel I found the
top end of a nature reserve, part of the Ijsselmeer reserve complexes which
constitute a huge wetland reserve with vast areas of Phragmites reed beds
stretching into the distance.
I
parked the car and walked across the road for a closer look I immediately saw a Marsh
Harrier hunting within 100 yards or so. I took a few pictures and then
scanned with the binoculars and very quickly realised that there were at least
another 4 if not 5 hunting in different areas in the distance, so that at one
point I had five Marsh Harriers all in the air at
the same time within the scope of my vision! There was a Sedge
Warbler singing, and on a small area of rough ground that looked as if it
had been cleared for a building plot a pair of Hares.
Back across the road in a car park that was split and divided up by fenced in
blocks, triangles and lines of reeds there was a Marsh
Warbler singing. Herons and Oystercatcher
flew overhead, Great Crested Grebes floated
serenely on the open water and a Whitethroat sang
from some rough herbage and bramble, a few short croaks and bleats betrayed the
presence of Marsh Frogs in the ditch.
I
headed back to the campsite and the tent. A Sedge
Warbler sang from the reedy ditch behind the tent and a couple of Marsh
Frogs started bleating and croaking. In the trees and shrubs close to the
farm house a bird sang quietly, it sounded like a Song
Thrush but was inordinately quiet and it occurred to me that it could
have been a Marsh Warbler.
The
day as a whole had been quite remarkable; it was cooler on the islands than had
been the previous two days, a comfortable 25oC and quite breezy. This
evening there was quite a stiff breeze and it was much cooler. At 10.40 it was
still light enough to read, though I began to feel that it was close to time for
me to turn in. In the fields around the farm and campsite there are quite a few Brown
Hares, Lapwings feeding and I could hear
the Oystercatchers calling. As I turned in the Marsh
Frogs started up again.
Wednesday
14th June - From Vrieseland to Flevoland
I
woke early again but didn’t really feel like cooking breakfast, so made do
with a cup of coffee and a shower. There had been a rainstorm in the early hours
of the morning; I had heard the beating on the tent through my half-asleep
state. It must have been loud enough to wake me. I cleared up the tent and
packed all away into the car and headed for the gate. I stopped briefly to
listen to the bird in the trees by the house again; I couldn’t see it but was
convinced that it was indeed a Marsh Warbler.
I
drove back over to Makkum and then wandered south along the road that followed
the Ijsselmeer dike down to Piaam, Gaast and Workum where I got food and fresh
milk in the supermarket, then on to Hindeloopen and the N359 which took me to
Lemmer and the A6 motorway.
On
the road south I saw several Marsh Harriers, Great
Crested Grebes, Coot and a solitary Common
Tern, Lapwing, Black-tailed
Godwit, Reed and Sedge
Warblers which sang from all sorts of places and scrubby corners by the
road. I had stopped for a while near Gaast where a sign indicated a Vogel hut
(Hide) and wandered out over the dike and along the track through the reed beds
to said hut. There was a Marsh Warbler singing
close to the dike, Reed Warblers singing in the
reed beds and from the hut which overlooked the reed beds I saw another Marsh
Harrier and family parties of Great and Blue
Tits. I stopped for breakfast of muesli and croissants followed by coffee
in a secluded spot by the dike near Hindeloopen which set me up for the next
couple of hours.
From
Lemmer the A6 took me south towards Lelystad. I had seen a few Herons
and a Kestrel along the road and White
Wagtails in a service area where I stopped for a while. As I reached
Junction 10 I turned off the motorway and suddenly noticed over the road in
front of me a White Stork, it circled and then
headed down the line of the dual carriageway directly in front of me heading in
the same direction as I was, and just as suddenly it lifted above the trees and
disappeared.
A
little way down the road I found the left turn I was looking for and drove down
a narrow road, the Torenvalkweg towards the Hollandsehout. This is a large
woodland plantation, mainly of Poplars, and supposedly a haunt of Golden
Oriole. I followed the notes and drove down the Torenwalkweg, stopping
and looking and listening in likely places but found only two more Marsh
Warblers in the nettle and reed filled ditches and banks beneath the
trees, Reed and Sedge
Warblers, Tree Pipit, Cuckoo,
Blackcap and Garden
Warbler. At the junction I turned right onto the Knardijk road towards
Lelystad Haven, then left at the end onto the N701 and drove south west along
the edge of the Markermeer (to the west) and the Oostvardersplassen (to the
east) for some miles. The weather was by now rather grey and drizzly, but I did
manage to find Reed and Sedge
Warbler, Reed Bunting, Cormorant,
several Marsh Harriers, two Spoonbills,
two Avocets in the distance, Greylag,
Whitethroat, Chiffchaff,
Willow Warbler and Chaffinch.
I drove most of the way down this road, then turned and came back up to the
Grauwe Gans (Grey Goose) Hide.
There
was a track down through the reed beds to the hide and two trails forming a loop
route. It was now raining hard, but I got the waterproofs on and went walkabout.
The book promised much but the reality was rather disappointing, I found Reed
and Sedge Warbler, a single Marsh
Warbler, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff and Willow
warbler, hundreds of Cormorant flying back
and fore to the Markermeer, Blackbird,
Song Thrush, a family party of Short-toed Tree
Creeper, Wren and the usual ducks,
coots, and Great Crested Grebes out on the
water from the hide.
I
drove east along the Knardijk for about 3 km and pulled over again to overlook
another area of reed beds and open water. The rain had eased off for a while so
I set about making a sandwich for lunch, whilst I was doing so a Cuckoo
called, A Great Spotted Woodpecker was chipping
from the cover of a Poplar tree, a Greenfinch
sang as did a Reed Warbler down the bank in the
reeds, a Dabchick was trilling just beyond the
reeds in the open water, a Reed Bunting chimed
and a Chaffinch called from a nearby tree. Just
beyond where I was parked the road split, the old road continued along the top
of the dike; the newer road dropped down and continued to the junction of the
Torenvalkweg beyond the railway line. I was looking along the old road when a
pair of White Storks (see pic left) suddenly dropped into view
and landed on the grass bank which sloped down towards the woodland.
I
grabbed the camera and using the dike bank and a series of rolled silage bales
for cover, I stalked close enough to take a series of photos. The Storks were
patiently walking about on the grass looking for food, occasionally pecking and
picking up tit-bits. They stayed for half-an-hour, then lifted off, flew over
the railway line and headed into the woodland, then a couple of minutes later
swung back and flew back over me and away westward towards Lelystad Haven.
I
consulted the book and the map and decided the next move was to drive over
towards the east of Harderwijk and the Veluwermeer into the forested area just
beyond Ermelo and Putten. After some searching I found a camp site behind the
village of Speuld which wasn’t ideal, it was again a largely residential site
and I was actually spending the night on the lawn of the house. However, it was
good enough for the one night, especially as the weather was closing in again
and looked as if it would be rather wet. On the drive down from Harderwijk I had
noted a very large area of heathland which was a possible prospect for the
morning; the potential was for Woodlark and Red-backed
Shrike perhaps if I could get to walk about on it.
After
dinner I went for a walk in the woods, there was not much to see, a Buzzard,
Chaffinch, possible Hawfinch calling, lots
of Blackbird and Song
Thrush. I still saw no Robins in spite of
the perfect habitat for them. Back at the tent I made coffee, dictated my notes
for the day and then turned in. It was raining again and I was looking forward
to a good night’s sleep.
Thursday
15th June - From Flevoland down to Biesbosch and Noord-Brabant
It
rained all night and was still raining just after 6.30 when I woke. I had had a
little intruder during the night, probably a Hedgehog,
which managed to purloin the remains of my Chorizos and left the pack with a
couple in just under the tent shell! There were no birds of note during the
night, neither sight nor sound of owls or Woodcock
which I would have expected.
I
had a coffee and packed the gear away, went for a shower and dressed in fresh
clothes, the tent shell was soaking wet so I rolled it up and placed it in a
large polythene bag and set it on top of the load bay cover. I left the site and
headed down the road to a parking area across from the heath land area I had
seen the previous evening. I could hear a Tree Pipit
singing, but it was pouring with rain so that it wasn’t event worth
contemplating a walk, I gave up the idea and drove on again.
I
headed back to Harderwijk and crossed the waterways between the Veluwemeer and
the Wolderwijd, then turned left along the Zeewolderdijk towards the Harderbroek
Reserve. This again, according to the book, was a haunt of Oriole
and Bluethroat and of course all the usual
wetland birds in the reed beds and pool complexes. It was a great reserve to
watch since all could be seen easily from the parking bays by the road which ran
along the top of the dike. However, it was still raining which made things less
than comfortable. I decided to give it a go and pulled down off the road to a
track and parked the car, got waterproofs on and wandered along the cycle track
which ran along the bank below the level of the road, but still high enough so
that I could scan across a great deal of the reserve.
There
were lots of Chiffchaffs and Willow
Warblers, a Tree Pipit singing, Reed
and Sedge Warbler, Reed
Bunting, Great Tit, all of the usual ducks
– Shoveler, Mallard,
Tufted, Shelduck,
Garganey, a Sandwich Tern overhead and a Marsh
Harrier looking rather forlorn and wet perched on
a post in the reeds. Back at the car I drove on a few miles around the edge of
the reserve to the roundabout which is at the junction of the Knardijk and
Sternweg. Here I found a very large raised brick built hide which offers the
perfect platform for watching both the reserve and the surrounding polders and
distant views back over the Wolderwijd. There were House
Sparrows nesting in the roof, and Swallows
flitting about around the hide. I set up the telescope and tripod and spent some
time scanning across the marsh watching the Marsh
Harrier hunting, I discovered six Spoonbill which
appeared to be nesting in the reed beds on a mound raised above the general
level. I could see nothing else which I hadn’t already seen so decided to move
on. The good news was that the rain was easing off and it was warming up a
little.
I
headed around towards Zeewolde and then into the woodland of the Horsterwold.
The book described this as another large and extensive plantation of mainly
Poplar with clearings and rides, ditches and canals between the blocks of trees
making it an ideal Oriole habitat, along with
other potential gems. I made my way directly to the junction of the
Groenewoudseweg and the Flediteweg which afforded the opportunity to watch in
three directions at the same time, parked the car, put on the kettle for coffee,
and made an early lunch. As might be expected I found lots of Willow
Warblers and Chiffchaffs, Blackbird
and Song Thrush
singing, there were three Marsh Warbler singing, Icterine
Warbler flitting about and a couple of Jays,
but no Golden Oriole.
I
moved on down the road to a wide, canal like drainage ditch which allowed me to
park and to wander up and down the paths either side. There were more Jays,
a couple of Wrens, a Kingfisher,
Blue and Great Tits,
a Nightingale singing, a Cuckoo,
Blackcaps and Garden Warblers,
Grasshopper Warbler (see pic left), Reed and Sedge
Warblers and several more Marsh Warblers
on the drier areas between the canal and woodland. As I was leaving the area I
found my way onto a larger road, the Spiekweg, and caught a snatch of song from
a Hawthorn in the ditch close to the woodland edge. It sounded like a Grasshopper
Warbler at first but was slightly different, so I pulled over and waited
for a bird to show. After a short while it appeared again, singing the
monotonous trill, though in shorter bursts, softer, deeper and more consistently
monotonous than Grasshopper. When it showed it
was plainer coloured than a Grasshopper, more
like a Reed or Marsh.
I realised at once this was a Savi's Warbler! Two
hundred yards down the road I discovered another and was able to stop again and
watch for a while. This brightened my day considerably, a somewhat unexpected
bonus.
As
I approached the Nijkerweg I found another drainage canal and went walkabout
again. Here there were almost exclusively Marsh Warblers,
the dry ground between the canal and the woodland edge was broad and covered a
with a mixture of shrubs and herbage, bramble, Phragmites, Nettles, Docks and
umbellifers with Hawthorn and Elderberry bushes dotted about. At the canal edge
there was an almost sheer drop into the water so that the reed fringe was too
narrow for the Reed and Sedge
Warblers. Icterine Warbler sang from the
trees and a Kingfisher called down the canal, on
a small shallow pond in a paddock where some horses were fenced in, a pair of Coots
had a nest and a pair of Great Crested Grebes
floated serenely. A single Sedge Warbler let fly
with a few snatches of song. I started the car and headed away, as I drove
along, I just caught sight of an Oriole, a female
in her scruffy, khaki/grey flew across the open ground and disappeared into the
woodland – not a male, but at least I had seen one, if only a brief glimpse.
I
made my way south east to the A28 motorway and followed it to Amersfoort and
Utrecht, then turned off at junction 23 onto the Bandijk which led me into the
north side of the Biesbosch National Park. I had seen Buzzards,
Greylags and White Wagtails
along the way. The weather was by now reasonable dry, though overcast with low
cloud and warming up so that it was quite humid and rather sticky.
I
found my way down to a small reserve near the Kop Van’t Land ferry where a
hide overlooked a small lake and reed bed. There wasn’t a lot to see, Cormorant,
plenty of ducks, a Sedge
Warbler but little else other than the Swifts
skimming the water, reeds and grasslands for insects. I moved on to the
Biesbosch visitor centre which is as museums and visitor centres go, very good.
It has tableaux and pictures, maps and diagrams with lots of text (almost
exclusively in Dutch) telling the whole story of how the people lived in the
ancient wetlands, hunting and harvesting withies. In many ways it is very much
like the Broads and Fens in Norfolk and Cambridge or Sedgemoor in Somerset,
though far more extensive. The parallels and similarities with English wetlands
in terms of the withies and fishing methods (traps, Eel
forks etc) and the duck decoys were quite remarkable. The displays of stuffed
birds were varied and interesting, Bitterns and many other wetland birds, and I
did finally see a Bluethroat, albeit a rather sad
stuffed specimen in a glass case! They had a whole series of tableaux of the
mammals in the park, stuffed and set in context including Muskrat
and Beaver. Beavers
had been re-introduced here some years ago and have now reproduced in such
numbers that there are some 60 active lodges and several hundred animals.
There
is also a great emphasis on the war time value of the landscape which it seems
was something that the occupying Germans could never come to terms with. As a
result it was a perfect retreat for the resistance and a hiding place for allied
airmen who were shot down over the Netherlands.
Outside
the centre I walked around a trail which passes through a series of live and
active withy beds in various stages which gave me a greater understanding of
exactly how the withy industry must have looked along the Severn in the heyday
of the Marsh Warblers. I found Wren
and Redstart with young, Willow
Warbler, Chiffchaff and Savi's
Warbler. I also met a Dutch couple who immediately realised I was a
birder and whilst they spoke very little English, I managed to get across the
message that I was looking for the Blauwbrost
(Bluethroat) so that they were able to indicate another Vogel hut about 4
km to the east of Petrusplaat which could be worth a look. I wandered back to
the car and after a little trouble found the site. A short walk across a field
brought me to the hut but apart from a family party of White
Wagtails, an Egyptian Goose (see pic
left), the usual Coots
and ducks I found almost nothing else. One thing
I did note was a Stork platform built onto the
side of an electricity pylon across on the far side of the water, though the Storks
were not at home.
I
left and headed east again seeing another Redstart
and a couple of Buzzards on the way to the
motorway, where I turned south towards Breda. A possible camp site at Hank
turned out to be more of an amusement park so I continued south. To the south
east of Breda, the area around Chaam offered a series of potential camp sites so
I made my way down there and drove around to have a look. I soon found that the
camp sites were not very satisfactory and it was possible that we were in for
another night of rain, so I decided to have a look at the map. With some thought
I decided that I wasn’t looking forward to putting up a wet tent, fancied the
idea of someone else cooking for me for a change, and generally wanted a little
comfort to make up for the miserable weather of the last 24 hours, so I pulled
off the road, changed into decent clothes and headed back to Breda where I found
the Campanile Hotel on the N282/A27 junction.
I
checked in and found that it was their fifth anniversary, so that dinner and
drinks were on the house! This was looking better all the time! I had a very
comfortable room with TV in English, two cups of coffee, a shower and a change
of clothes helped enormously, after which I headed for the bar. I had a beer,
and then wandered over to the barbecue where a very jolly and talkative Sicilian
chef served me up with chicken breasts and chips, a good helping of salad and a
goodly slice of apple pie and cream. Thereafter a few more beers and a cigar all
free of charge whilst watching Sweden play Trinidad & Tobago on the big
screen TV set me up for a very comfortable night. The weather was now much
better and the cloud cover was receding somewhat which helped.
Friday
16th June - Breda to Mechelsbroek and back to Ypres
I
woke at 6:30am and made a cup of coffee to drink whilst watching the news on TV.
After a shower I wandered down for a good Dutch breakfast of Orange juice,
Bacon, boiled eggs, Croissant and coffee then headed back to the room to sort
myself out for the day ahead. I checked out of the hotel and headed for the
motorway. It was another bright and sunny day, not entirely cloudless, but far
better than the past couple of days and I was optimistic.
I
drove down to Antwerp and on then towards Brussels. My objective was Mechelen,
just to the north of Brussels where I found the sports centre after some
difficulty and parked the car. The book gave sufficient directions for me to
find the Mechelsbroek Reserve, a series of lakes, water meadows and the river
bordered by the N15 road, De Nekker sports and leisure centre and a housing
estate to the north west. From the sports centre car park I found the path that
led along the edge of the water meadows to the dike which splits the lakes
roughly in two. To 
the north, the lake is clean, sharply banked and serves the
needs of the sports centre with an artificial beach at one end; as a result
there are few birds other than Coots and
Grebes. To the south however, the lake is much more natural with
overgrown banks, corners and creeks, reed beds and shallows which makes it a
haven for all sorts of birds and animals.
The
path at first snaked through a narrow belt of mixed woodland with Oaks, Poplars
and Ash trees either side of the raised dike. There were tits
and Willow Warblers,
Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Chiffchaffs
as I walked along, then I heard a strange song in the top of an Oak tree. At
first I couldn’t make it out, and couldn’t see the bird no matter from which
angle I looked. I was about to give up when a small face appeared through the
leaves, followed by a slender, yellowish body which of course was an Icterine
Warbler (see pic left). The song however was not his, and after
some minutes I wandered on, mystified.
At
a point where the path and dike turned abruptly north, I found a series of steps
which led down into the water meadows so wandered down and out for some distance
to have a look around. A Red Admiral settled on
the brambles and Nettles, a Marsh Warbler
sang from a scrubby ditch and a Sedge Warbler
from a rough reed bed along the ditch just opposite. Whitethroat
sang in several places, and when I turned around to walk back towards the dike I
picked up a falcon. This was no sluggish Kestrel,
but a rakish and rapid Hobby (see
pic left), swooping and
casting upwards as it pursued the dragonflies above the Poplar trees for five
minutes until it was lost from sight over the trees to the west.
I
walked back to the dike and on through the reserve, I saw a Rabbit
– rare in the past few days, a Speckled Wood
settled on the path in front of me, and there 
were more dragonflies in bright blues and a startling red. Another Icterine
Warbler sang, more Sedge
and Marsh Warblers
and a Reed Bunting
chimed in the meadow beyond the lake. Two Buzzards
circled in the distance. On the shallow lake there were more Great
Crested Grebes, Coots,
Greylag, Egyptian
and Canada Geese,
about 200 geese in total, roughly equally split. Black-headed
Gulls nested on the far side, Common
Terns fished (see pic left), a huge Carp
close to 3 feet long with a slightly smaller companion swam lazily in the
shallows. A Chaffinch “pinked” and a Greenfinch
sang, a small party of Goldfinches passed over
tinkling, Blackcaps sang in a couple of places
from the cover of the bushes, a female appeared briefly in a Hawthorn by the
path. At the far end of the path I reached the end of the dike, or at least the
junction with the path that followed the Mechelen Broek (the river) and decided
that rather than walk around the sports centre back to the car park, I would
return by the same route I had followed to get where I was.
This
was a fortuitous decision because within a few minutes I heard the familiar
“wet-my-lips” call of a Quail came up from
the wet grassland below me, and as I listened to it, I caught sight of a small
brown bird diving into the cover of reeds, docks and bramble under a small
Willow tree. I watched for a minute and it reappeared, jaunty and with tail
cocked it began to sing, I immediately recognised it as the same song I had
heard earlier from the Oak tree, and as it turned to face me I could see the
blue on it’s breast that told me I had finally found what I was really looking
for – the “Blauwbrost” (Bluethroat)
was mine! (see pics below). I watched it for nearly 15 minutes; it seemed to be sharing the cover
of the Willow with a Whitethroat
on one side and a Sedge Warbler
on the other.
I
started walking back, I saw Cormorants, Blue
and Great Tits, a Cetti's
Warbler briefly appeared from the scrub at the
bottom of the dike and belted out a few bursts of explosive song, and I heard
more song from the ubiquitous Marsh Frogs.
Back
at the car I made lunch and had a drink from the bottle of Heineken I had bought
in the supermarket a couple of days before, and forgotten I still had in the
boot of the car! It was by now warm and cloudless, the day had been perfect so
far but it was time to move on. Back at the motorway I headed south to Brussels,
west to Ghent, south-west to Koutrijk (Courtrai), then finally west again to
Ypres and back to the camp site behind the spots centre at Jeugdstadion where I
had stayed on Saturday last. The office was closed but there was only one other
tent in the camp area so I put up my tent and sorted everything out, got a cold
bottle of coke from the machine and settled down to wait until the office opened
at 4pm.
The
lady finally arrived and was immediately besieged by the couples who had arrived
in several camper vans so I left them to get on with it, and only wandered over
when all but the last couple had been dealt with. I paid my dues, collected the
security tag I needed for the showers and promptly set off to get washed and
changed.
It
was hot and sunny; I dressed appropriately and then wandered into town to do
some shopping. I had goodies for the family, walked about enjoying the late
afternoon and watched the Belgian national Beach Volleyball championships that
were taking place in a series of sand pits that had been constructed in front of
the Lakenhalle. I walked to the far end of the Groote Markt and settled in at a
table at the front of one of the restaurants, a couple of beers and a plate of
steak in mushroom sauce filled a large gap in my food intake, after which I
watched the procession of British legionnaires and cadets coming back from the
Menin Gate, complete with band, then wandered back to the campsite.
I
deposited the shopping, and after a cup of coffee and a fresh shirt (it was that
hot!), I grabbed my digital voice recorder and camera and walked back into town,
this time by way of Leopold III laan and the Rijselpoort so that I could look at
some of the back streets and the St Pieters Kierk. I managed to get a recording
of the Lakenhalle bells, and then headed for another restaurant to get a coffee
and enjoy the last of the evening light. Swifts
screamed overhead and Feral Pigeons
circled silently.
I
walked back through the Menin gate and down to the camp site, pausing to record
the song of the Marsh Frogs on the way. Back at the
tent a final coffee set me off to bed, well pleased with the day.
Saturday
17th June - Ypres to Dunkerque, Dover to Gloucester
I
was awake again at 6.30am, this time to a brilliant cloudless and steaming hot
morning. I made a coffee and was enjoying the morning air. I made bacon and eggs
for breakfast, and had another coffee. I wandered over to the shower block to
freshen up, dressed and started clearing away the gear ready to leave. An Icterine
Warbler was singing from the bushes behind the
reception office and the Blackbirds were
prospecting for worms on the grass. With everything in the car I set off and
headed around the ring road, stopping briefly for a bag of Belgian pastries at
the bakery on the Diksmuide road.
I
made my way out to Poperinge and on to Veurne, then south west to Dunkerque. I
saw a number of birds along the way, several Herons,
a Sparrowhawk, several Blue-headed
Wagtails, a Sedge Warbler
singing from the shallowest and driest of ditches on the edge of a corn field, Cormorants
and Gulls and just before Dunkerque, another Bluethroat
in the small bushes on a roundabout just off the A16! As I was leaving the A16
to head towards the port a Fan-tailed Warbler
(or should that be a Zitting Cisticola?) was singing in the grassland just off the road, then on
the port road Willow Warbler
and Chiffchaff and when I pulled into a lay-by to
check my bearings, a Grasshopper Warbler sang from a small
Hawthorn.
I
checked in, and lined up for the ferry, there were a few Feral
Pigeons and a lot of gulls
around, nothing special, just the usual Herring
and Lesser Black-backed.
The
ferry trip was uneventful; it was hot and sunny though breezy out at sea. I saw
a couple of Fulmars and a pair of Gannets
in mid-channel but little else of note. Back in Dover the exit from the boat and
then from the port was slow, but I did eventually get on the road. I drove back
via Dungeness again just to have a second look; the birds were pretty much as
before, nothing special of note. The motorways were pretty clear; I saw nothing
of any special note and finally made it home at 6pm.
The
trip was just over 1500 miles, and all done on a budget of less than £350
including the ferry fares and the hotel!
*******************************************************************
Information,
notes and comments:
Belgium
and The Netherlands are excellent countries for some different birding at
reasonable cost. Ferries are dirt cheap now so that a channel crossing can be
had for less than £50 if booked early and the travel time is not too important.
Norfolk Line goes from Dover to Dunkerque and is very good. Driving over there
is easy and relaxed, the roads are not too crowded and they are generally very
good. The Netherlands has a strange habit of giving country roads names, but not
putting up signposts at the junctions, so directions can be a bit chancy. Some
Belgians speak Dutch, some speak French and some speak Flemish; most Dutch speak
at least some English, but not all! Everybody rides a bicycle, bicycle hire is
fairly easy in most towns, there are cycle tracks wherever there are roads and
even more so where there are no roads. Cycling is a great way of getting close
to the countryside very easily.
Nature
Reserves are frequent and usually very rewarding, each has an information board
somewhere nearby, but on the whole any piece of wetland, marsh or pool will
provide Avocets and other waders, Marsh Harriers and lots of passerines,
Farmland birds are a bit thin – (huge polder fields and no hedgerows!),
Woodlands in the south and east towards Germany hold a variety of different
woodland birds from the UK. The great thing is that you are almost completely at
liberty to stop wherever you can sensibly park the car and scan the landscape.
No one seems to be too concerned about you getting close to birds so that I was
able to sit in the open and watch Avocets and suchlike from 20 feet for example
on Texel – How different from many British reserves! This of course doesn’t
mean that the usual rules don’t apply – so don’t get too close or disturb
the birds, don’t go crashing through the undergrowth etc.
There
are a few birding web-sites but most are in Dutch and of limited use (try
“Birding in the Netherlands” and then search using appropriate key-words.
Where to Watch Birds in Holland, Belgium and Northern France is the best (only)
book available – some sites are now a little out of date, some of the bird
lists are a bit optimistic but most of the sites came good for me, the
directions are good and the variety of sites and areas covered offer something
for everyone.
The
Michelin 1:150,000 road atlas (1.5km to 1 cm) is the best map I could find –
the scale is perfectly good enough for navigating all roads and routes, many
large towns have enlarged plans and the nature reserves, camp sites and touristy
sites are all marked with symbols (though the text is not in English).
If
you are a fan of wetlands, waders or warblers, you cannot go wrong over there.
Would
I recommend Belgium/Holland ………? Are Avocets Black and White!
- And would I go again………… Where do I sign up?!