I am most grateful for the overwhelming positive feedback to my
last piece on the birds of Tromsø, N.Norway; there were so many encouraging
mails, that I can't reply to everybody personally. here follows a further
offering, this time from my native Zeeland SW in the Netherlands. I hope
that is welcome, too! tromsø meanwhile has had a surfeit of weather, with
snow, ice, rain, avalanches and floods in close succession, all in the ten
days I was away in Holland. Now it has snowed again all night, and the town
once more looks like a winter wonderland.
Tromsø, 23
February
Wim Vader
GEESE GALORE; A WEEKEND IN THE SW NETHERLANDS. 1 SCHOUWEN
When I was a boy living in Zeeland in the SW Netherlands, I thought that
large flocks of geese all around all winter were commonplace everywhere
in the world. We called them "vriesganzen'' (frost geese), and my parents
taught me the the V's of the goose-ploughs signalized 'vorst' (=frost).
Only later I became aware of the fact that I had happened to grow up in a
favourite wintering area of geese, that my frost geese were mainly
White-fronted Geese, and that many boys grow up in the world without geese
allarpound in winter. But the Netherlands in general, and the SW in
particular, have remained fantastic areas to watch geese of many different
kinds, and I therefore looked much forward to a weekend on the island of
Schouwen--the northernmost island in the province of Zeeland, and on the
other side of the Easter Scheldt of where I grew up--- that Riet had
promised her son and daughter-in-law, Iman and Maya, and me. I used to
know Schouwen quite well, since I worked as a zoologist at the Delta
institute in Yerseke from 1963 to 1965, and we combined hydrographic
observations with monthly bird counts of shorebirds in that area; butthis
was before the many dams of the Delta-plan were finished,and the area has
changed enormously during these 40 years.
Schouwen-Duiveland is a mostly flat and low-lying island--and it suffered
terribly during the disastrous floods of 1953--, with a fringe of dunes in
the western end. Our cabin was in this area, in Haamstede, where during
later years an entire village of new holiday houses has grown up, close to
the old and still functioning lighthouse.This is on the inner edge of the
dunes, and the gardens here are chock-full of Great Tits (with fewer Blue
Tits) and Collared Doves that stand for the majority of the morning
chorus; the Blackbirds have not yet really started singing, and the
Chaffinches only barely, while Wrens and Dunnocks are heard here and
there. In the evening the European Robins absolutely dominate and the air
is full of their crystal-clear somewhat melancholy strophes, while here
and there a Song Thrush shouts spring, and the surprisingly common Great
Spotted Woodpeckers take care of the drumming accompaniment. The dunes
themselves are not very rich in birds this early in the spring, although
of course crows and magpies abound and the herring gulls already have
spring-feelings: the long call is heard regularly. Rabbits are everywhere,
as are Ring-necked Pheasants. In the deepening twilight in the evening
many trees had a top decoration of small flocks of jackdaws, as always all
in pairs, no doubt preparatory to the flight to a common sleeping area.
But we concentrate this weekend on the lower lying areas, drive to the
start of the dam "closing'' the Easter Scheldt (not really, the sluices
normally let the sea water through) and turn east along the dike. Already
at the first stop, the little harbour of Burgsluis, we find the first
small flock of Brent Geese, swimming boldly upright close offshore, a very
different attitude from the slumped ducks around. Here, as at most later
stops, there are also Red-breasted Mergansers, Great Crested Grebes, and
Little Grebes in the water, and Shelducks, Oystercatchers, Curlews and
Redshanks on the shore.
The low-lying 'karrevelden en inlagen', the brackish wetlands behind the
dikes, with many pools where clay has been dug for the repairs of the
dikes, have a charm all their own, in my eyes. They also seem to have a
colour all their own, as much of the brackish vegetation often is not
really green , but shows all kinds of bronze and reddish tints. Here
Shelducks are everywhere; they have apparently just paired, but there is
still a lot of territorial unfinished business, and squabbles break out
constantly, with much posturing , low growling threats and also outright
chasing. The brownish Curlews are easily overlooked in this brownish
surrounding, and also the longer you look, the more pairs of grazing
Wigeons you find; in some areas there are many hundreds and they keep
close together, while elsewhere the pairs are scattered over the entire
wetland.
Near the strangely impressive lonely square tower of Koudekerke---all that
is left of a village taken back by the sea in the 16th century--- we came
across the first really large flock of Barnacle Geese. They flew up a bit
further on, and crossed over our area--just when Riet and Maya were on top
of the tower, so that they had the great good fortune of deeing them pass
close-by at eye level, before doubling back and landing again in a tight
flock. Although I have experienced this many times by now, it always
remains a most impressive spectacle. Barnacle Geese are somehow cosier
looking, and maybe primarily sounding, than the other geese; they yap like
so many young small dogs. The same area yielded our first Avocets---one of
the most elegant and beautiful birds that I know, and also Gadwalls, Teal,
Greylag Geese and the first flock of Starlings for the year. A Little
Egret looked somewhat out of place, but this elegant and nervous heron has
become quite at home in the Netherlands tin recent years, and in fact we
had already seen one on Friday too. Spoonbills have always been around
here in winter, and also now we saw a few twice.
.
We walked around a much larger and 'wetter' ínlage.The water had ebbed a
bit, so that some mudflats had become uncovered outside the dike. Also
here Brent Geese dominated the scene, together with Oystercatchers,Curlews
and redshanks, but a few ringed plovers gave variety. Inland Mute swans,
Gadwalls and a beautiful male Pintail swelled the year list, Meadow Pipits
'jumped around' along the shore, and a covey of Partridges flew up
suddenly close by and left us as frightened as they no doubt were themselves.
By then we have covered the entire south coast of Schouwen , with a Grey
Heron the last newcomer on the lkist, and we arrived in Zierikzee, once a
mighty town and a hub of commerce and seafarers (The townsmen decided in
1450 to build a church tower taller than the Dom in Utrecht, with 110m the
tallest church tower in Holland. But the harbour channel silted up, the
town lost influence and money, and the St Lieven Monster tower never made
it past 58 m, and still stands as a impressive unfinished stump). Now
Zierikzee is the centre of the island, and also attracts many tourists. So
we ate there, bought mussels to fry at home, and also 'bolussen', the
wonderfully sweet-tasting syrup-cakes of the area, before increasing rain
decided us to call it a day and return to the cabin for food and games.
Wim
Vader,Tromsø Museum
9037
Tromsø, Norway
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