Last weekend, I visited this new nature reserve on the outskirts of The Hague. The idea was to practice our autumn wader identification skills and we were not disappointed, with both Little and Common Ringed Plovers, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Common Redshank, 3 Little Stint and lots of Snipe to keep us busy. Whilst there, though, we heard two Gull-billed Terns had been reported from the far corner of the reserve and, looking over there, I could indeed make out a very pale-backed tern in the distance patrolling a marshy area. We thus headed in that direction and soon got great looks at the adult flying around, my first confirmed sighting in The Netherlands. Out of sight to us, the juvenile was sitting behind some vegetation waiting for the adult to bring it some food but other observers were able to decipher its rings which reveal them to have come from a Danish breeding colony. Since then, I have been stuck at home in quarantine having contracted Covid but the bird Gods have taken pity on me and I have been able to enjoy watching young Peregrines receive flying lessons over my balcony, migrating Lesser Black-Backed Gulls and a young Pied Flycatcher!
