Lauwersmeer National Park

Birding the Top of Holland

One of the best birding areas in the country is on the border of the provinces of Friesland and Groningen. This area is good any time of the year and we will focus on the birds that are present at the time. The area, Lauwersmeer, used to have an open connection to the sea until not too long ago. After the disaster floods of 1953 in Zeeland the government decided not to make the existing dikes any higher, but to build a completely new, 8 mile long dam across the inlet, which meant the end of the open connection to the sea. By doing this a magnificent nature reserve was lost, but a new, completely different reserve was created. The new area is home to large numbers of birds, and a visit will be a highlight of any trip.

Nowadays, Lauwersmeer is both a National Park and part of the Wadden Sea Unesco World Heritage area, stretching from the Dutch island of Texel to the Danish Wadden isles. The landscape mainly consists of lakes, large reed beds, forests, grasslands and mud flats and is famous for its large variety and huge amounts of birds at almost any time of year. On a good day in spring or autumn, seeing over a 100 species of birds shouldn’t be a problem.

Although variety is the key word, the area is particularly known for its waders (spring, summer and early autumn), ducks, geese (from october –april) and raptors (throughout the year). Furthermore, the reserve hosts some very interesting breeding birds like Ruff (there are several leks here), Red-backed Shike, Montagu’s Harrier, White-tailed Eagle, Bearded Tit, Golden Oriole, Bittern, Spotted Crake and Bluethroat, while rarer species like Caspian Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Osprey, Pectoral Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Marsh Sandpiper, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Red-breasted Goose and Lesser white-fronted Goose are seen annually in or around the reserve.