The Zeeland delta region
The Zeeland delta, including the Oosterschelde estuary, is indispensable as a breeding area, stopover and/or wintering area. There is space, peace and food all year round. This is due to the combination of nature reserves inside the dykes and salt marshes, mud flats and sandbanks outside the dykes. Very few areas along the migratory route can offer all these.
young avocet
Who, what, where:
Common ringed plover
summer visitor: breeding (rare) and transient
breeds in vulnerable places on the ground: beach with lots of shells, sandbanks, etc.
particularly well camouflaged
eat insects and small bottomdwellers
Wigeon
winter visitor October/November until March/April
whistle: characteristic call
striking appearance
vegetarian: polders, salt marshes and inlays
Common tern
summer visitor, arrives at the end of March, leaves at the end of October
breeds between small colonies of black-headed gulls
sea swallow: finely built and agile in the air
fishes just behind the dykes
Bar-tailed godwit
May spring migration and August/September autumn migration
Silent in the Netherlands
searches for bottomdwellers in the mud, sand and between the stones
Eurasian spoonbill
summer visitor, breeds from April to August
most often seen in late summer
unusual beak: moves the beak back and forth through shallow water
eats fish, shrimps, snails and water insects