SPECTACLED EIDER LONG WEEKEND IN THE NETHERLANDS

In early 2025 the ornithological world, well European birding world was well and truly shaken by news coming out of Texel in the Netherlands that there was a drake Spectacled Eider present - only the 6th record for the entire Western Palearctic. Not only that, but it seemed settled amongst the hordes of Common Eiders and was looking set to spend the rest of the winter there. And it did! We made the pilgrimage in February 2025, flying to Amsterdam and renting a car for the 2 hour drive north to the ferry that took us over to the island where we, in company with many other birders, saw THE bird loafing offshore. What was an eye-opener was the quality of winter birding in Netherlands at this time of the year, with thousands of geese on Texel including flocks of Tundra Bean Goose,, a rare Cackling Goose, Black-necked & Slavonian Grebes, divers, many other ducks, as well as a flock of Shore Larks present along the coast. We also twitched a drake Baikal Teal successfully on the mainland, and other species 'gettable' at the same time included Pygmy Cormorant, Black Brant, Lesser White-fronted Goose, Rough-legged Buzzard, Black Woodpecker, Short-toed Treecreeper, Crested Tit and others.

And now the drake Spectacled Eider has returned and looks set to spend another winter off Texel. Fingers crossed! And we are going back for seconds and inviting you to join us. We will focus initially on the eider during the the first two days, as well as exploring all that Texel has to offer. Returning to the mainland we will probably head to Zeeland and look for Ross's and Red-breasted Goose, before heading to some delightful forests and tracking down Black Woodpecker and hopefully Middle Spotted Woodpecker as well. We will no doubt find Whooper Swan, Tundra Swan, Barnacle Goose, Taiga Bean Goose, Smew, Long-tailed Duck, White-tailed Eagle, Hen Harrier, Great Grey Shrike & Hawfinch amongst others.

Other rarities over the past few years have included Bufflehead, Bonelli's Eagle, Northern Hawk Owl, Eurasian Pygmy Owl, Siberian Rubythroat and Spotted Nutcracker to name just a few. So let's go birding!