Last weekend was my annual, winter wild goose chase around Zeeland and we'd picked a beautiful day for it. We started with 3 Lesser White-fronted Geese, which unfortunately flew off before we could get the scopes on them, but then marvelled at the sight and sound of well over 3000 Barnacle Geese. The day ended with yet more Barnacles, but this time accompanied by around 350 Brent Geese which came in off the sea to drink. We also paid a visit to the Brouwersdam, where the sea was like a mirror and the unusually calm weather made for fantastic viewing conditions, allowing us to connect with displaying Red-breasted Mergansers, Eiders and Goldeneyes, lots of Common Scoter, Slavonian and Black-necked Grebes, Great Northern and Red-throated Divers, plus four Long-tailed Ducks. A Green Sandpiper and a few Spoonbill helped make it feel more like the middle of spring than the end of January, and we finished the day with 70 species on our list.
