THE NETHERLANDS

The birdwatchers

I didn't note down any names at the time but I can remember Francois, Segolene and Martine Thommes, Odile Mella and Robert Lecaille, Dominique Landragin and Fernand Kubina were there.

Accommodation

In Grouw, just as in the previous trips.

The trip

During this 2140-km long trip, which we made at the end of December 1993, we tried to reach Grouw as quickly as possible, just stopping here and there for a few observations of course. Then we scanned the Gaast area and took the Ijselmeer dyke to go to Den Helder. The following days, we visited the area around the Lauwersmeer, drove to Holverd, opposite the island of Ameland, and ended the trip in Flevoland.

• People go to the Netherlands in winter to watch geese above all and we saw plenty of them: 2 Snow Geese (Anser caerulescens), 20 Pink-footed Geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) in the Oudega region, in the North. In Gaast, 20 to 40, 000 geese, among which a leucistic Barnacle Geese (Branta leucopsis). There was also a Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis).

Common Eider

• In Den Helder: 20 Purple Sandipers (Calidris maritima), 30 Red Knots (Calidris canutus), in Holverd :28 Twites (Carduelis flavirostris) and in Oostemahorn, an immature White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla). In the harbour of Lauwersoog : 6 Guillemots (Uria aalge), one Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) and several thousand Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) in the same region..

• Farther south, in Emmeloord there were 170 Bewick's Swans (Cygnus columbianus) and in Espel 15 to 20 Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis). Close to Lelystadt, in Flevoland, there was a female Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) and 15 to 20 Little Gulls (Larus minutus).