The Netherlands

Our Netherlands birding tour begins with arrival at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol where we take a shuttle bus to a nearby hotel to relax and freshen up. In the evening, we will meet at 6:30pm in the lobby for dinner.

If you arrive a day or two before the tour, there are many things to do in and near Amsterdam, including a visit to the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh museum, Anne Frank House and much more.

Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands, has more than 100 kilometres of canals, about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. Small wonder that it’s referred to as the "Venice of the North".

Overnight near Schiphol Airport.

After a brief stroll through the hotel’s garden (Lesser Whitethroat, Whinchat, Northern Wheatear and European Goldfinch are all possible), we board our vehicle and make the short drive to the Zuid-Kennemerland National Park. This area consists of pristine woods, dunes and lagoons where we can expect a variety of waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors and passerines, including Western Marsh Harrier, Woodlark, Common Grasshopper Warbler and Common Nightingale.

After lunch, we will visit the Keukenhof (“kitchen garden”), also known as The Garden of Europe, one of the world's largest flower gardens and a flagship for the Dutch bulb growing industry. Overnight in Arnhem

The morning is set aside for exploring De Hooge Veluwe National Park, with its expanse of sandy heaths, lakes, dunes and woodland. We hope to see European Honey Buzzard, Middle Spotted, Lesser Spotted and Black Woodpeckers, Coal and Crested Tits, Wood Warbler, European Pied Flycatcher, Common Redstart and many more forest species. The more open heaths should produce sightings of Eurasian Hobby, Woodlark, Northern Wheatear and Yellowhammer. Red Deer, European Mouflon (introduced from Corsica) and Wild Boar are also possible.

In the afternoon we visit the Kröller-Müller Museum, one of the country’s finest art museums, comprising a wide cross section of modern European art from Impressionism to Cubism and beyond (including Mondrian and Van Gogh), as well as enjoy its sculpture garden, one of the largest in Europe. Common Firecrest and Hawfinch are possible to see here. In the late afternoon we shall explore a bit of the surrounding countryside (or Park Sonsbeek/Zypendaal).
Overnight in Arnhem.

Today we will have a full day of birding at the Oostvaardersplassen, a nature reserve northeast of Arnhem in a reclaimed part of the former Zuiderzee. This area is justly famous for its wildlife. Red Deer are found, while Konik ponies and Heck cattle have been introduced to help manage this marshland, the largest in the Netherlands, where the birdlife is spectacular. Even Eurasian Wolf has been seen in recent years.

We hope to see a variety of waterfowl (including Garganey, Common Pochard and Tufted Duck), Black-winged Stilt, Eurasian Spoonbill, Eurasian Bittern, harriers, White-tailed Eagle, Eurasian Golden Oriole, Bearded Reedling, Cetti’s, Sedge, Common Reed and Savi’s Warblers, as well as Bluethroat and many more.
Overnight in Meppel/Zwolle area.

Today we will visit the Weerribben/Wieden National Park, where extensive marshlands harbour Water Rail, Eurasian Spoonbill, Eurasian Bittern, Purple Heron, Great Reed and Icterine Warblers, amongst others.

The nearby village of Giethoorn is extraordinarily picturesque, its slender brown green canals overseen by lovely thatched cottages, shaded by mature trees and crisscrossed by pretty humpbacked footbridges. We shall have lunch in the village before taking a brief walk around the “Venice of the Netherlands”.

Afterwards, a visit to another local wetland (Wetering West, west of Scheerwolde) may produce a few species of grebe, White-winged Tern, Eurasian Bittern, Bearded Reedling and more. Overnight in Meppel/Zwolle area.

In the morning, we will bird in and around Dwingelderveld National Park, a large heathland, surrounded by forests. Some of the more common species include Eurasian Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer, while Common Crane, Short-toed Snake Eagle, Eurasian Hobby and Red-backed Shrike are possible.

After lunch, we will visit Fochtelooërveen for afternoon birding. Species here will be similar to those at Dwingelderveld National Park, including Common Crane. Overnight at Leeuwarden.

Today we spend all day in the Lauwersmeer National Park in the extreme north of the Netherlands. The tidal flats, freshwater lakes, marshes and meadows are full of birds such as Common Shelduck, Red-necked Grebe, numerous shorebirds including male Ruff, Whiskered Tern, Montagu’s Harrier, Bearded Reedling, larks, Bluethroat, wagtails, pipits and more. An effort will also be made to locate White-tailed Eagle, which has bred here in recent years. We will try to time our arrival at the tidal mudflats to coincide with the greatest concentration of birds. Overnight in Leeuwarden.

We spend a leisurely day driving via the Afsluitdijk to the province of Noord Holland, stopping at viewpoints along the dyke. We will walk along the dyke at Wieringen, overlooking the Waddenzee, before ending up at Den Helder for the night. A variety of waterfowl, shorebirds, terns and gulls can be expected along the dyke and there will likely be some migrant passerines.
Overnight in Den Helder.

We take a ferry to Texel (pronounced “Tessel”), the largest of the famous Frisian Islands, while keeping an eye out for Harbour Seal, Common Eider, terns and gulls while on board.

Stuck out in the Waddenzee, Texel is the westernmost of the string of islands that band the northern coast of the Netherlands. Some twenty-five kilometres long and up to nine kilometres wide, Texel is a mixture of natural island – in its southeast reaches – and reclaimed polder, mostly on the western side. Overall, it’s a flat landscape of green pasture land dotted with chunks of woodland, speckled with small villages and protected by long sea defences. The west coast boasts magnificent stretches of sand that reach from one end of the island to the other. Behind the beach, a belt of sand dunes widens as it approaches both ends of the island.

In the north it spreads out into two nature reserves – De Muy and De Slufter – the latter incorporates Texel’s finest scenery in a tidal inlet where a deep cove of saltmarsh, lagoon and dune has been left beyond the sea defences, exposed to the ocean. Target species include European Turtle Dove, many species of shorebird including Eurasian Dotterel, Little Tern and Eurasian Spoonbill, as well as scarce and rare birds that the island is famous for.

We will visit a few nature reserves, as well as a couple of picturesque villages; Den Hoorn is probably the prettiest place on the island, while Oudeschild still boats a working harbour with a small fishing fleet. Overnight in Den Helder.

Today we will visit the nature reserve De Nollen south of Den Helder for a short morning walk. This former bulb field has been transformed into a small reserve with low dunes and small waterbodies. Here we may find Water Rail, Sedge Warbler and Bluethroat. We continue south to Zwanenwater nature reserve, located in the dunes near the coast, where we can expect a variety of waterfowl, Eurasian Spoonbill and passerines such as Lesser and Common Whitethroats, Common Nightingale, Bluethroat, European Stonechat and Northern Wheatear.

Further south, we visit the Hondsbossche Zeewering. Over the North Sea on one side of this high seawall we should see terns and gulls, while on the other side, a few ponds across the road may harbour waterfowl and shorebirds. We then return to Amsterdam for our farewell dinner.
Overnight near Schiphol Airport