Constantly proving Al Gore wrong – that is in essence the Dutch climate change strategy. Not the official strategy, that’s: trying hard not to do anything at all. No, the unofficial strategy that follows the one imperative constant over the last two millennia: let’s keep the place dry. Contrary to the propaganda and popular thought the Low Countries (including the valiant Belgians here – they deserve credit too) were once bigger. A rising sea and sinking land have put both countries well below sea level since the Romans left. The Lowlanders fought back, building dikes and draining the land with windmills: forming polders.
Those same world-famous polders are actually causing the land to sink further as water is pumped out to keep it all dry enough to farm. Stop pumping for about three weeks and you end up with a large wetland. No, dear birders, that is not a good thing because the 30 million Lowlanders would have to take refuge in Germany where they would annoy everyone to the point of despair. Know-it-all’s, every single one of them. However, to combat the rising sea levels a new strategy has been developed: dolce far niente – give land back to the water. I took my two Colorado friends Brad and Laura to one of those places: De Groene Jonker. We stayed at Hotel Zuideinde – a place where you can rent electric boats to explore the lakes.
De Groene Jonker wetland was formed in 2008. Over the period since then it has developed into a lush wetland with wet and dry areas. Spotted Crake has been spotted (pun intended) and the swamp is a feeding ground for Eurasian Spoonbill. We saw and heard several dozen Sedge Warblers (driving Merlin crazy with their imitations), a few Savi’s Warblers and Common Grasshopper Warbler. Between the three of them, arguably the weirdest bird songs in Europe.
The place is noted for its breeding population of Bluethroats and we saw four. I managed to get a photograph of dubious quality, but you wouldn’t expect anything else from me, right?
De Groene Jonker is not the only “new nature” – go and check out Vreugderijkerwaard, Tiengemeten , Hellegatsplaten or Zuidlaardermeer for example. All great places for birding, all brand new nature.
Hotel Zuideinde Boat Tour was awesome, a must do if birding in the area! Perfect for “beak aficionados” like us, the curlew/heron/spoonbill scene was spot on ? thanks again for bringing us here, Peter!