Back from Holland

On the 28th, I headed over to Holland with Tineke to spend one night in Amsterdam before taking the 2 1/2 hour journey to Zeeland and the town of Goes to finally meet her extended family. Amsterdam did exactly what it said on the tin, the Red-light District with its coffeeshops and bars actually provided the best birding, and I am talking about the feathered variety! Tineke reckons that I am the only guy in the world who can walk down a street lined with scantily-clad hookers and still be checking Coot for colour rings! Great-crested Grebe was the Amsterdam highlight, although I did see my first Ring-necked Parakeets in the 'wild' above Rembrandtplien.

Red-light Birding

We headed south on the 29th, hooking up with Marjin, Tineke's cousin, before arriving in Goes and being introduced to the family! I did my very best with Dutch, I can ask for a coffee, train tickets, if you have slept well and the basics, but it was just as well that the Dutch are very good with English! I also saw the advantages of having a flight attendant in the family - I quickly became aware of the exits in case of an emergency as well as being plied with as much food and coffee to feed a cheeky scallywag that has the munchies!

Enjoying 'stick' - the local speciality (it really is a stick!)

It was excellent to be able to get out into the countryside when we were in Zeeland and it straight away brought back memories of Southwestern Ontario and the straight roads and linear tree plantations. We went to visit a town called Veere with its massive church and grand town hall. The main canal had Little Grebe, Wigeon and Coot whilst Tineke was able to pick out Coot and another GC Grebe. We also took some time to visit Veere Mere, a large lake created by damming off both ends of a dyke. Jan was explaining to me how the water level is controlled during the year to create sufficient habitat for feeding waders. There much have been upwards of 5000 Wigeon here and 1000's of Coot (it sadly wasn't possible to check them all for colour rings). The photo below shows, however, that this site would be perfect for cannon-netting!

[insert cannon-net here]

Town Hall, Veere

Veere

Whilst I was away, Moxey did manage to get into Crosby Hall to complete a ringing session, the totals were:

L.T.Tit - (3)
Greenfinch - 1
Chaffinch - 7 (3)
Goldfinch - 8
Coal Tit - 3 (6)
Robin - 3 (2)
Blue Tit - 8 (27)
Great Tit - 9 (30)
Nuthatch - (1)

TOTAL: 39 (72)

The weather has got significantly better since I left for Holland, so I am hoping to get out Sunday and Monday before returning to work on Tuesday.