Schiermonnikoog and Lauwersmeer

On the 8th of April I met Komal and Sachin in front of their B&B in Groningen. Only 15 minutes later we made our first stop in ‘the Onlanden’ south of the city. The first bird we heard after we left the car was a Savi’s warbler, soon followed by the hoomping of a Great Bittern. Several March Harriers flew over the reedbeds.

Komal and Sachin asked for two days of Birdwatching and after a phone call we decided to visit the North of the country. I (Marko) took them around Groningen and the North of Drenthe on the first day and we took the boat to Schiermonnikoog on the second day. 

The Onlanden also delivered some nice singing Bluethroat and the first Sedge warbler of the year (for the guide). Later I had to explain that the Bittern is in fact a rare bird in the Netherlands and it is very special to hear them. Because we heard it booming all the time and you might start thinking it is a very common bird.

Later in the morning we visited a woodland area and found Wood Lark, Tree pipit and Short-toed Treecreeper. The woodpecker made it difficult for us. The Greater Spotted Woodpecker drummed a lot, but showed only short and the local Black Woodpecker was nowhere to be seen. The surprise in this area was a Water Rail singing in a little pool in the middle of the woodlands.

Because my guests also liked Dutch culture we took time to make a photo stop at one of the windmills we passed. Two jackdaws brought nesting material to the top of the windmill for their nest. The sun came out and at the next stop we saw some early butterflies like Brimstone, European Peacock and Orange Tip. A Skylark was making his courtship flight and a couple of Stonechat was hunting nearby. 

We finished the day at Fochteloërveen and were lucky to discover a nesting pair of Crane from the watchtower. Also two Great Egrets were close by. But Sachin was as happy with the frontal picture of a Blue Tit which was sitting at eye level from the watchtower. We came to a total of 55 species on the first day.

On the way to the harbor on the second day we made a stop at National park Lauwersmeer. Because of roadworks we lost some time, but we could make a short stop at the Westside of the park. The guests were impressed by the number of Barnacle Geese in the area, probably over ten thousand. Soon we saw some new species of wildfowl like Shoveler and Northern Pintail. Waders like Ruff, Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit showed also.

On the way out of the Park we experienced a funny difference in perspective by birdwatchers from different parts of the world. I saw four Black-winged Stilt flying in front of the car and almost made an emergency stop, because this is a rare bird in the Netherlands. But it didn’t impress the guests, because it is a very common wader in India.

We took the ferry to the Island of Schiermonnikoog for a 45 minute boat ride. From the boat we saw Eider, but the wind was cold, so we went inside to drink some coffee. After arriving on the island the first birds we saw was a group of Ruddy Turnstone in the harbor. We decided to walk along the dike, but the wind was blowing harder by the hour. Luckily it was high tide so a lot of birds could be seen on the inside of the dike and out of the wind. Again thousands of Barnacle geese were seen and among them some Brent Geese. Later in the day a bird counter, working on the island, pointed out a Red-breasted Goose among the Barnacle Geese. A short time later we saw a group of Horned Lark (or Shore Lark) and Linnets feeding in a corn field.

In the fields of the island hundreds of Oystercatcher, Lapwing and some Curlew were seen. Also a group of almost a thousand Golden Plover, most of them already in breeding plumage could be seen. At the end of the dike we could finally go in a more wooded area and out of the wind. We took a rest at the bird hide at the shore of a freshwater lake overlooking a large colony of Spoonbill and Cormorant, some of them in nice breeding plumage. Also some Great Crested Grebe and Common Pochard showed well from the hide. This made a total of 80 birds for the two days of which the second day was a very windy one.

After the boat ride back to the mainland I brought the guests back to their car and they continued their way through the Netherlands.