Back home on Thursday and off on a field trip with the birding club on Saturday. Till the moment I left I was not sure whether I should go or not. It was dreadful weather, everything was covered with a layer of snow and the roads were difficult to travel on and yet I went. Some people did not make it to the bus and there were some seats open and pleasant for us to sit.
It’s always pleasant to meet some old friends again and catch up on the news.
We went to an area called Meetjesland in East and Zeeuws Flanders where there are many creeks due to flooding of the Western Schelde and the digging up of peat, which makes it a lovely area to watch birds.
We arrived at our first stop at about ten-ish.
Sint-Jan de Doper church in St. Jan in Eremo.
Boerekreek, our first stop and it was very, very cold! Last week I did not see anything but mountains around me and this time I see the flat open spaces of Flanders.
A slight dusting of snow on everything, not many birds to be seen yet, though enough ducks and geese pass overhead.
This picture and the one above it taken 5 min from each other. I think most of us wondered why we came out birding today.
Huddled together on the dike we braced the cold wind.
After the shower of snow the day got warmer and the sightings became better. At this place called Kruiskreek I had the best sighting of Merlin ever, although it is my only sighting so far.
My friend Godelieve, she found a pair of Peregrines sunning on a sandbank, we could see them very well.
A wide open country ..... space! Can you smell it?
Most of our group of birders were inside this hide. We had good sightings from here, like a Snowgoose (blue phase) and Brent Goose which are great favourites of mine. One of the ladies had a quiet moment while she enjoyed the sun.
Then the day was over. In spite of the cold we had a lovely day with great sightings. The full list you can see here
A few of the more interesting birds we saw,
Tundra Swan
White-fronted goose
Barnacle goose
Common Shelduck
Eurasian Wigeon
Gadwall
Northern Pintail
Smew
Goosander
the rest you can find on the list.
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