Whilst most Dutch birders were twitching a male Siberian Rubythroat which had turned up in a North Holland garden over the weekend, I was doing my annual tour around Zeeland with my Dutch friends. Originally started as a 'wild goose chase' to enjoy the big numbers of geese or just a long day out to get our year lists off to a good start, it has become more of a rarity chase over the past few years. In 2012 we succesfully twitched a Hume's Leaf Warbler, in 2013 we added House Crow to our European lists by visiting the small population at Hoek van Holland, in 2014 we saw both Two-barred Crossbill and the overwintering Hawk Owl, and last year it was the turn of Oriental Turtle Dove. This year's target was another lifer; the female Pine Bunting which has been present for over a month. Absolutely everybody in Dutch birding has seen it by now so, in stark contrast to the crowds up north, it was really nice to have this Siberian rarity to ourselves. We got excellent looks at her but the wind was blowing right at us from across the Oosterschelde so we didn't stay there for long. We then went back to the day's roots, so to speak, visiting some of the best spots in Zeeland, seeing tons of Brent and quite a few Barnacle Geese, and racking up a decent day list of 68 species without really trying.
Red-breasted Mergansers, with their shaggy crests, are always fun to see as they are rare in Belgium, and the Brouwersdam added Goldeneye, Eider, Common Scoter, Slavonian Grebe, Kittiwake and a Grey Seal to the list. We reached our final destination of the day, where we were hoping to connect with a Little Bunting, at the same time as a big hailstorm and the light was fading fast so I only managed to hear it call before we had to leave. As we walked out onto the promontory, however, we heard a strange chattering noise we all knew we had heard somewhere before but just couldn't place, until we turned round and discovered this large group of flamingos! It contained both Greater and Chilean, with lots of juvenile birds, plus a few Caribbean hybrids, and must therefore be the mixed breeding colony from the Zwillbrocker Venn in Germany which migrates to the Dutch coast every winter.
