We had our first snow of the winter last week, resulting in some nice photo opportunities. Thankfully, it had all melted by the weekend for my almost annual wild goose chase around Zeeland with my Dutch birding friends. In fact, it was rather mild, with unseasonal sightings of both White Stork and a single Spoonbill also helping to make it feel almost spring-like. The Brouwersdam, however, was cold and windy as always, and we saw most of the species which are typical winter visitors there, including Red-throated and Black-throated Divers, Slavonian Grebe, Goldeneye, Common Scoter, Eider, Red-breasted Merganser and Purple Sandpiper, as well as an unexpected Guillemot. The main target of this year's wild goose chase was Lesser White-fronted Goose yet, despite careful scanning of all the goose flocks we encountered, we were unable to locate any. My scrutiny was rewarded with a single Tundra Bean Goose, however, which I was very pleased to find amongst a 1000-strong mixed flock of Barnacles and White-fronted Geese, although it only showed its tell-tale bill for a short while before going to sleep and blending back in amongst the crowd.
