Having a Ball in the Low Country (1 Viewer)

No, not the Bruce Hornsby song but an occasional thread about birding in the Netherlands. We moved here, from Paris, a month ago and once we had (more or less) unpacked and got the house looking more like a home than a warehouse the serious birding began. Well, not that serious as we still don't have a car - or (horror of horrors) a bicycle.

We're living in the small town of Vianen about 12km south of Utrecht. On my first day here we went to the local town hall to start the process of acquiring our residency permits and found a White Stork's nest on the roof, complete with one White Stork. Not a bad start.

Since then I've been working the areas around the town. The River Lek runs east-west just north of the town and just west of the bridge that takes the A2 motorway over the river there is Middelwaard lake. Not a huge lake but, nevertheless, a lake big enough to hold a few hundred Wigeon.

My first serious birding day here took me beyond the lake along a dike with excellent views over the polders. That day produced a Great White Egret, Goosander and a flock of Siskin. The next few days turned up a male Peregrine (turns out that he's regular), Goldeneye, White-fronted, Barnacle and Greylag Geese (plus the annoyingly noisy Egyptian Geese), Shoveler and Black-tailed Godwit. A few Stonechats and alba wagtails passed through in early March and the first Chiffchaff was heard on the 14th. A superb adult male Hen Harrier drifted through late afternoon on the 21st with the first Willow Warbler the next day. A pair of Red-crested Pochard were present for one day only on the 24th with the first Sand Martins on 25th and the first Swallows earlier today.

After ten years of little else other than central Paris (well, the Bois de Boulogne, which did throw up things like Black Woodpecker and Crested Tit) it's good to be back in the (real) field again! And having learnt my birding in Devon it's wonderful to see Buzzards every time I'm out. Especially the light morph individual that thinks it's a Rough-legged.

Even birding from the train can be good with Buzzards, Sparrowhawks and another Great White Egret. So, first impressions are good and given that March is a relatively quiet time it's been a good start.

Let's see what develops.........

David

Welcome to the Netherlands. Enioy the birding!

Check out www.waarneming.nl for all birdsightings in the Netherlands. On top at the right you could change the language (dutch: "taal") into english.

Thanks for that - much appreciated. I discovered the site recently and am already using it - in English!

David

Your most welcome. If you have any questions about birding the Netherlands, just email me.

Malloot said:

Your most welcome. If you have any questions about birding the Netherlands, just email me.

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Thanks - I may well take you up on that once I have a car. There doesn't appear to be a "Where to Watch Birds in the Netherlands"-type of book in print at the moment so any advice on specific areas would be welcome come the time. Having said that, the more I get into the waarneming.nl site the more information I'm finding.

David

David, you're making me homesick. Not that the birding is bad here in the US, but it takes increasingly less to make me homesick these days. It looks like I may move back (family in tow) next year, in the mean time I'll be reading your updates on a regular basis.

A Grey Wagtail (female) on 28th and a count of 27 Chiffchaff on the local patch were good. 23 Shoveler on the same day were interesting in that none were present the day before or the day after. 13 Mistle Thrush were also slightly odd for the time of year. A female Marsh Harrier was seen on the 1st April together with a Common Buzzard. Seeing them together was interesting and I wonder how anyone could mistake one from the other. But being seen together is all the difference. The Buzzard is chubby and rounded - the Harrier is angular with long wings.

David

MichavdB said:

David, you're making me homesick. Not that the birding is bad here in the US, but it takes increasingly less to make me homesick these days. It looks like I may move back (family in tow) next year, in the mean time I'll be reading your updates on a regular basis.

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I'm married to an American who, fortunately, prefers Europe to the US. So hurry on back!

David

Four (very flighty) Ring Ouzels on the banks of the River Lek just west of the A2 motorway bridge was quite the event today!

33 Barn Swallows passed through in the hour or so I was out (before the rain came in).

David

The four Ring Ouzels were reduced to three yesterday. A rather plump female Sparrowhawk was not far away!

There were 12 Black-necked Grebes in summer plumage on the lake at Middelwaard yesterday. Huddled together and all diving and resurfacing together - but not exactly together, so counting was difficult. But after I had toured the lake (looking for a mystery bird - see below), I couldn't find them where they had originally been until one of the local Highland Cattle wandered down to the water and flushed them from under the bank. They panicked together with a mix of flying and paddling to get away from this threatening beast. Rather amusing as they kept looking back to see if the cow was chasing them! The cow, of course, was completely uninterested. I know, Highland Cattle in the Netherlands?!!

Also had one of those moments when, whilst watching the Grebes, something flew across the lake out of focus. Quickly re-found it and it seemed to be all black above but with a very striking white rump/tail. Size of a Song Thrush so first thought is wheatear - and not necessarily Northern. It landed in a tree, which sort of ruled out wheatear as there is plenty of open grazed grass where it landed. Despite a good two hours of searching it couldn't be re-found. So it will have to be one of those that got away.

On leaving the lake I was walking parallel to the (rather busy) A2 motorway and was talking to one of the construction workers there (they are making improvements to the parallel bridge that cyclists use to cross the river). So, much construction noise, added to the traffic din, did not make for a pleasant "walk in the country" - until a magnificent male Marsh Harrier floated over our heads! The worker I was talking to was most impressed and went on to tell me that Texel was the best bird site in the country. I think I knew that!

In the evening I had a brief look at the area to the east of the town and spent a good 20 minutes trying to locate a Bluethroat singing in a tree. Turned out eventually, to be a Starling doing a perfect impression of Bluethroat, which have been recorded in the area in the last few days. I hate Starlings.

Some 400 Barnacle Geese still around under the A27 bridge that crosses the Lek.

A good couple of days.

David

TwoDipsfromAmsterdam said:

I'm married to an American who, fortunately, prefers Europe to the US. So hurry on back!

David

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I'm also married to an American and she also prefers Europe, so if we can make it work financially I think we'll be back next year.

The Ball Goes On

First two Common Terns flew over the patch on the 11th when there were also three Green Sandpipers in the area along with a couple of Siskin. Managed to clock 53 species for the day. A Whitethroat was singing by the river on 13th.

A few days in the UK visiting family but back birding in the Low Country this morning with four Barnacle Geese on the lake - first time I've seen them actually in the lake - they're normally flying over. Two Egyptian Geese were also on the water - with four young. Three Little Ringed Plovers were also a first for the lake although I have seen them in the area before, just a little up-river. A Ring Ouzel, possibly two, was on the polder whilst a rather nice male Whinchat was by the river, along with a Northern Wheatear and a couple of Whitethroat. Three Common Terns were on the other side of the river - in the Ijsselstein area.

The weather is incredible - dry, sunny and warm with the temperature around 23. Real Swift weather! But no Swifts as yet.

David

An update long overdue (partly because I spent 10 days in the US since the last post).

The last few days of April produced Common Redstart on 21st, Grasshopper Warbler and the first House Martin on 22nd. Oddly, no more House Martins were seen until I got back from the States earlier this week. A Cuckoo on 24th was a pleasant surprise as was a Hobby the next day when the first Garden Warbler and Common Nightingale were found. It was about now that a build up of Common Sandpipers began with 8 on 26th and peaking at 20 on 2nd May. The first Swift appeared on 27th April.

May got off to a good start with a female Pied Flycatcher in an orchard just behind our house. A male Common Pochard appeared on the lake on 2nd May (the first I've seen here) and hung around for a few days. Three Black Terns were on the lake on 2nd but on the 4th there were 33 plus three Whiskered Terns! All gone the next day when Common Sandpiper numbers were down to six but eight Wheatears were present. Then came the US trip (http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=200646) and on return a quick flip around the lake on 18th produced little of interest although a couple of Reed Warblers seem to have taken up residence.

David

Biking Birding

My new bike arrived this week - really makes me feel Dutch!

Anyway, first serious use of said machine took place this morning when I cycled about 7km up river to a small village called Everdingen. I had previously seen some interesting records from there on the waarneming.nl site. And it was something to behold. It is a series of "islands" by the River Lek with plenty of exposed mud and sand - and reeds. I wasn't able to stay long but long enough to see three Spoonbills plus breeding Avocets and a Marsh Warbler. Return wader migration could be interesting.

Today is a holiday (Ascension) in the Netherlands and here in Vianen it's the first day, of three, of the National Tugboat Days. Tugs, and other vessels, from all over the country pitch up on the local canals and it's all very carnival-like. Thousands of visitors, most streets (including ours) closed to cars and plenty of sunshine. Quite what the White Storks breeding on the Town Hall roof will make of it I'm not sure.

The ball goes on.

David

TwoDipsfromAmsterdam said:

My new bike arrived this week - really makes me feel Dutch!

Anyway, first serious use of said machine took place this morning when I cycled about 7km up river to a small village called Everdingen. I had previously seen some interesting records from there on the waarneming.nl site. And it was something to behold. It is a series of "islands" by the River Lek with plenty of exposed mud and sand - and reeds. I wasn't able to stay long but long enough to see three Spoonbills plus breeding Avocets and a Marsh Warbler. Return wader migration could be interesting.

Today is a holiday (Ascension) in the Netherlands and here in Vianen it's the first day, of three, of the National Tugboat Days. Tugs, and other vessels, from all over the country pitch up on the local canals and it's all very carnival-like. Thousands of visitors, most streets (including ours) closed to cars and plenty of sunshine. Quite what the White Storks breeding on the Town Hall roof will make of it I'm not sure.

The ball goes on.

David

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You make it sound amazingly idyllic David. When we move back, we'll have check the tugboat days out. Sounds fun!

MichavdB said:

You make it sound amazingly idyllic David. When we move back, we'll have check the tugboat days out. Sounds fun!

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Thanks, but a word of warning; we're having what I guess is a true Dutch summer. Rain this morning with the forecast promising more for the next few days, together with strong winds! Incidentally, I now know why my bike has seven gears, something that seemed odd in a flat country. It's the wind - punching into a strong headwind as you bike along the dike roads is a challenge, especially if you're totally unfit.

Anyway, to the birds. We are, of course, well into the breeding season so things have settled down a bit following spring migration. I've been surprised by the numbers of Barnacle Geese breeding in the area; always thought the Netherlands was right on the edge of the breeding range but they seem to be very common. More Barnacles than Canada.

On the 14th I did a ride to Sluis and back - about 27km - hoping for Purple Heron and Savi's Warbler. Successful with the first but not the second (I was probably too late in the day). Cycling back I came across a couple of Rooks - a Dutch tick!! Seemed odd as they were in a flock (or should I say a "murder") of Crows.

Yesterday was a bit of a red letter day. Returned to Everdingen as there was a report of a Marsh Sandpiper (and a Spotted Redshank) the day before. No joy with either but added Garganey and Bluethroat to the life list, Garganey having been a bogey bird of mine for years. Also saw a Little Egret, which is a bit scarce in the Utrecht Province being more of a coastal bird. A couple of Green Sandpipers were also interesting - I assume they are non-breeders wandering about. Nine Spoonbills rounded off a rather nice visit.

David

Green Sandpipers are actually migrating south already (I saw two in Zeeland today). Quite suitable with the autumnal weather...

Autumnal - winter more like!!
D

TwoDipsfromAmsterdam said:

Autumnal - winter more like!!
D

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Ah, just you wait..... 2 degrees and drizzling with a fierce wind is what winter feels like.