Report Private Birding Excursion Lauwersmeer 30-09-23

Private Birding Excursion Lauwersmeer 30-09-23 (by Henk)

all photos were taken by Stefan Artin unless stated otherwise

At 10 o’clock I agreed that I would pick up the participant of the excursion from his B&B in “Niehove” and from there do the excursion through the Lauwersmeer. He is from Frankfurt in Germany. The focus this time is on photographing and not so much to see as many species of birds as possible. The wish species are the Bearded Reedling and the Marsh Harrier and some waders. The weather is calm, slightly cloudy, little wind and not cold.

Via “Zoutkamp” we drive towards the “Jaap Deensgat” via the beach road, where we can already see a pair of Stonechats sitting on the reed stalks. We park the car in the parking lot at the beginning of the hiking trail to the bird watching hide. When we get out, two Bearded Reedlings immediately fly out of the reeds and fly too far away from us. On the path we stop a number of times to see what is further towards the water with the binoculars and the telescope. We see, among other things, many Barnacle Geese and Lapwings, also White Wagtails everywhere. In addition, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Pied Plover, Golden Plover, Great Black-backed Gull, Black-headed Gull and Spotted Redshank. Halfway through I also think I heard a very short Raven, and sure enough 10 seconds later another longer call and there it comes flying, nice species of here.

From the birdwatching hide we can see a number of Common Snipes, half hidden between the grass. A number of Meadow Pipits are also present here. Due to an accident, the sun visor of the camera fell off from the participant. So I hung out of one of the peepholes to grab the sun visor from the ground that fell on the outside of the hide. Could just get through it and stay nimble let’s just say 😉 . The Common Snipes just stayed there. 

Also, when walking back to the car a few times briefly heard a Bearded Reedlings and seen but not good to take a photo unfortunately. We continue via the bird watching tower at the “Vlinderbalg”, here some Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swans, Cormorants and Tufted Duck and we decide to drive directly to the harbor of “Lauwersoog”. 

Just behind the loop towards the end point we see a Wheatear shoot away, which stays for a while next to a fence where it picks up insects. We drive to the end of the pier, where we see a walk-up just before restaurant “’t Ailand”, which turns out there is a van with the nose in the water. I hear them say that fortunately there is no one in it. When we get out, we first take a cup of coffee and see one last juvenile Common Tern flying around. Furthermore, a few Great Crested Grebes, three Ruddy Turnstones along the side and Black-headed Gull and Herring Gulls and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. Again, a Wheatear is foraging nicely along the edge of the water. 

From the harbor we will look at “Moddergat” to see if we can already see a Short-eared Owl there, unfortunately not seen it here, but again a Wheatear and many White Wagtails. A group of Common Redshanks is also standing in the puddle and in the puddle of marsh a Common Greenshank lands in front of us, sits briefly and is gone again. On a dike there is a Kestrel. 

When we arrive at the “Ezumakeeg”, there is not much special on the middle part, and we drive on to the north. There are already a dozen people there and it is busy, many birders and birds also happy. There are, among others, Dunlins, Curlew Sandpipers, Little Stints in addition to Pied Avocets, Little Ringed Plover and Common Ringed Plovers, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruffs and Common Shelducks. There is also a late Sand Martin. Further back are also thousands of Golden Plovers. On south we also look briefly, but there is more of what is also on north, but there are still a few Marsh Harriers.  

Finally, we look at “Ezumazijl” and walk to a viewpoint in the hope of a few bearded Reedlings, we have seen a few briefly, but they do not want to cooperate for the photo today. Further on the lake there are a number of Little Grebes next to Northern Shovelers and a Great Egret along the side. Just in front of us also very briefly a Common Greenshank who flies further away and sits there again. The participant calls Kingfisher! And sure enough, I can just catch the last bit of the flight before it flies out of sight among the reeds. On the dike back at the bridge there are again many White Wagtails with a few Goldfinches in between and a few House Sparrows in a bush.  

So, we end the excursion, and the participant thanks me for the beautiful excursion which he found very interesting. He will stay at the B&B until Tuesday and will go out for a few more days himself, now that he has seen a few beautiful places.  

species list