NUTCRACKER!! Netherlands.

I had been tempted by this bird for some time and finally in December it proved too much and I booked the euro tunnel crossing for a superb price of 43 pound return. I had done the Netherlands once previously with Ash Howe and Dan Houghton where we saw Hawk Owl, Pygmy Owl, Caspian Plover and more. This time it was Me, Dan H, my dad and Ian Wells their 1st time to the Netherlands. 

Once we had all met up we set off from Southampton to folkestone for a midnight crossing. 2.5hrs later we arrived at the euro tunnel le shuttle where everything went smoothly and half hour later we were in France heading rapidly east towards Belgium. Quickly through Belgium and into the Netherlands we arrived at the Nutcracker site before dawn so got our heads down for a bit.

Dawn rose and so did we where we headed over to a small patch of grass between some flats and the road. On arrival there was a group of Dutch birders who had just seen it fly out, phew relief it was still present but a nervous half hour wait for it to finally show and show it did!

Armed with nuts Ian put some down and we set up some perches for the bird to use and it wasn't long before it flew down and have us incredible views which then got to the point of ridiculousness when it started landing on people and lenses alike. Incredibly happy with our morning we headed off to look for Northern Long tailed Tits which we dipped along with Lesser White Fronted Geese however we wanted to make it back to Belgium for the Pgymy Cormorant. A new bird for us all unlike the Nutcracker which incredibly Dan has found one in Denny Wood, Hampshire. (Lucky guy!!!)

We arrived at the Cormorant site in Belgium to the noise of lots of Ring Necked Parakeets and it was starting to get dark quickly. Eventually I picked up the Cormorant distantly roosting on the other side of the lake which was a right pain to view, not quite what I had imagined but none the less a tick. 

Once dark had fell we headed back towards the euro tunnel stopping off at a services for a Burger King which was nice albeit Ian's looked more like roadkill than a Burger and he wasted 12 euros. Lol! We now had a long wait at the euro tunnel approximately 4hrs but thankfully after speaking to the reception ladies they very kindly squeezed us onto the next available one which left in 20 minutes. Ideal!

We all arrived back home at 1am in the morning and it was a great success with great birds and company. Now for some pics of the main attraction. Enjoy!!

And now some selfies with the bird. 

     Incredible pic taken by Vincent Legrand.

                 Taken by Ian Wells.

Comments

  1. Unknown7 March 2019 at 02:26

    Well done. Great photos of an interesting trip. I was tempted but chickened out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown27 March 2019 at 11:33

    Thankyou. Was well worth it!!

    ReplyDelete

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