PeterHG’s sixth. Wherever it may take us.

[elefromoz]

another 'wow' for the godwit IF, beautiful

[PeterHG]

5 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

A Dunnock at 99....after all the other species you have seen? They can't be rare in Holland surely!

Superb Godwit flight shot btw.

 

I wonder what you have up your sleeve for 100!

 

On 3/28/2021 at 4:02 PM, Galana said:

You cannot stop there!! 100??

 

Well, considering the fact that I have no photos yet of a Starling, Great Tit or a Moorhen, I feel #100 is going to be special . And no, Dunnocks are not rare here, but they are known to be quite Olympus-shy.

[TonyQ]

A superb Godwit in flight!

[michael-ibk]

Indeed, the Godwit is incredible. A great shot of the Cettís also, that’s such a tricky bird to photograph.

[PeterHG]

A few glorious days this week (hard to imagine right now) so we decided to make the most of it and do a few day trips. The first one was to the coast, visiting the IJmuiden pier and a small wetland area further north, close to the sea. The pier provided a pleasant walk and some birds, but no additions. Three photos anyway:

Purple Sandpiper. A reliable spot for this species.

 

Ruddy Turnstone. Nearly always present in fair numbers. I couldn't resist trying for some flight shots.

 

And Sanderling, also quite a few about.

 

 

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

The next site did provide a few additions:

 

100 / NL 100. Pied Avocet. Petten, 30/3

 

 

A lot of territorial disputes....

 

 

Not only the Avocets were behaving aggressively towards potential intruders, also the Common Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers were chasing each other constantly. Another good opportunity to catch some flight shots. I'll post some in the birds in flight section, so as not to clutter this thread with too many non-additions...

Edited April 2, 2021 by PeterHG

[PeterHG]

This is also a good spot for Sandwich terns. A large number of them nest on some islands in the reserve and can be seen and photographed later in the year, when flying out to sea and returning to feed their chicks. I'll be sure to come back here in May.

 

101 /NL 1101. Sandwich Tern. Petten, 30/3

 

[Galana]

A beautiful addition with which to reach your Century. Even if you had not got that The Sandwich Tern would have done nicely intead

And  I think of the number of years I have spent time near Ijmuiden waiting for the Newcastle Ferry and never even knew those birds were there for the viewing.

[Tdgraves]

Congrats on the century 

[mvecht]

@PeterHG beautiful bird and shots for your century.

[Kitsafari]

brilliant image of the avocet to celebrate your 100th. congrats!

[Soukous]

a terrific century Peter

[TonyQ]

Well done on reaching 100, and with such a beautiful bird 

[Dave Williams]

Nice one Peter.

Another "100 club 2021" member!

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Galana, @Tdgraves, @mvecht, @Kitsafari, @TonyQ, @Soukous, @Dave Williams

 

After the trip to the north we decided on a trip to an area we seldom visit. A national park on one of our southern provinces, some 130 kms from our town. It is an area where peat cutting was the main activity until early 20th century. It is a beautiful area with little lakes, moors and woodland. We hoped to find at least a few birds that we do not usually see where we live. Later in the year is better as with many areas, but it was still a worthwhile trip. One bird we never find in our area is this one:

 

102 /NL 102. Yellowhammer. De Peel, 31/3

 

[PeterHG]

We do get the Little Grebe, but always quite distant. This one was taken from a hide near one of the lakes.

 

103 /NL 103. Little Grebe. De Peel, 31/3

 

[PeterHG]

104 /NL 104. Bluethroat. De Peel, 31/3. One of my favourites. We do get them in the wetland areas nearby, but this was a first for this year.

 

[PeterHG]

105 /NL 105. Garganey. De Peel, 31/3. It is much less common that its cousin, the Eurasian Teal and we were happy to find five of them on a lake just outside the national park. Distant views as we could not approach the lake.

 

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

106 /NL 106. Northern Wheatear. De Peel, 31/3. We sometimes see one in our region when they are migrating, but not very often.

 

[PeterHG]

107 /NL 107. Grey Partridge. De Peel, 31/3. I was very happy with this sighting. It is on our red list and I had not seen one in our country for many years. We spotted four of them on a recently ploughed field. As we were also staring right into the late afternoon sun, it did not make for an ideal photo setting, but I didn't care one bit.

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by PeterHG

[Galana]

Another excellent field trip and what a great find with the Grey Partridge which are very much under threat now.

[Soukous]

A very fruitful day out Peter. 

[xelas]

It is a special feat to reach #100 so early, and in your own country. Congratulations!

[mvecht]

@PeterHG it may be a distant shot of the Little Grebe but it is still a high quality photo!

[Peter Connan]

Congratulations on the century. Beautiful photoe and lovely birds!