BirdingHolland North Sea Seabird Trip

The BirdingHolland North Sea Seabird Trip is the premier dedicated offshore seabird experience in the Netherlands — a full-day voyage aboard a purpose-fitted Dutch fishing vessel into the open North Sea, operated by BirdingHolland, a specialist bird and nature excursion company based in Zuidhorn, Groningen. BirdingHolland runs these dedicated zeevogeltochten (seabird trips) from three Dutch ports across the autumn migration season: IJmuiden in Noord-Holland aboard the MS Marion; Scheveningen (Den Haag) aboard the Trip Junior; and Lauwersoog in Groningen, the northernmost departure point, also aboard the MS Marion. Each of the three ports gives access to a different sector of the southern and northern North Sea, meaning that consecutive trips from different departure points will encounter different seabird concentrations and oceanographic conditions during the September–October peak window.

The Netherlands occupies a remarkable position for seabird watching in autumn. The southern North Sea forms a natural funnel for tens of millions of seabirds migrating southwestward through the English Channel approaches on their way from Arctic and sub-Arctic breeding grounds to their subtropical and tropical wintering areas in the Atlantic. The coastline of Noord-Holland — particularly the headland at IJmuiden, where the North Sea Canal exits to the sea — acts as a concentration point for this migration, and the Dutch North Sea as a whole receives a cross-section of the entire northeastern Atlantic seabird community during September and October. The critical oceanographic feature is the productivity of the North Sea itself: the shallow (<100 metres) sandy basin is highly productive, enriched by inputs from the Rhine, Maas and Scheldt river systems and stirred by tidal mixing over the banks, sustaining enormous populations of sandeel, sprat and herring that in turn concentrate seabirds. Trips that head north or northwest from IJmuiden or Lauwersoog quickly enter the deeper waters of the central and northern North Sea, where the shelf depths are more suitable for tubenoses, storm-petrels and skuas than the shallower nearshore zone.

The standard tactic aboard BirdingHolland trips is to steam offshore until reaching productive water — typically 15–30 nautical miles from the coast, well clear of the nearshore zone — then cut the engine and deploy fish waste (visafval) from the stern in the manner standard for dedicated European pelagic trips. The chum slick spreads downwind across the surface, drawing seabirds from distance to the immediate vicinity of the vessel. European Storm-petrel (Stormvogeltje) is attracted this way: the tiny, dark, white-rumped storm-petrel that breeds on rocky islands around the coasts of Britain and Ireland — Skomer, Lundy, Copeland, the Westmann Islands — migrates through North Sea waters in autumn and flutters around the chum slick in characteristic bat-like flight, often simultaneously with Leach's Storm-petrel (Vaal stormvogeltje), the longer-winged, more buoyant storm-petrel of remote North Atlantic colonies (St Kilda, the Westmann Islands, Newfoundland). Both species can be present at the chum slick together, making the BirdingHolland trips one of the very few locations where direct flight-style comparison between the two species is consistently possible.

Shearwaters provide the bulk of the species count. Sooty Shearwater (Grauwe pijlstormvogel) — the all-dark, scimitar-winged shearwater of Falkland Islands and sub-Antarctic breeding colonies that migrates north in hundreds of thousands through the eastern Atlantic — is the numerically dominant shearwater in Dutch North Sea waters from August onward, and after periods of westerly or northwesterly winds that push birds inshore, extraordinary concentrations can accumulate. Manx Shearwater (Noordse pijlstormvogel), the smaller, black-and-white shearwater breeding in huge colonies on Skomer and Skokholm in Wales and Rum in Scotland, is a regular companion throughout the season. Great Shearwater, the boldly marked long-distance migrant from Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, appears in the southern and central North Sea during its post-breeding northward dispersal from July through September; it is a headline find on Dutch North Sea trips and is reliably encountered on productive days. Northern Fulmar (Noordse stormvogel), the tube-nosed gull-like seabird of North Atlantic coasts and open ocean, is a background species of the North Sea year-round and characteristically glides and circles the vessel in search of fish scraps.

The skua showing is one of the defining features of the BirdingHolland zeevogeltochten. All four skua species regularly encountered on Dutch pelagic trips: Great Skua (Grote jager) — the heavy, piratical 'bonxie' of Scottish island colonies — is a near-certain sighting from late August, approaching the vessel closely to investigate the chum and pursuing Gannets and shearwaters in kleptoparasitic chases. Pomarine Skua (Middelste jager) in its distinctive spoon-tailed or dark-morph plumage is reliably present during October migration. Arctic Skua (Kleine jager) is the commonest of the three polytypic North Sea skuas, seen in multiple colour morphs on virtually every autumn trip. Long-tailed Skua (Kleinste jager), the most slender and graceful skua with its improbably long trailing tail streamers in full adult plumage, reaches peak passage through Dutch waters in September and can sometimes be drawn to the vessel at the chum slick — a memorable encounter with one of the most elegant seabirds in the North Atlantic.

Sabine's Gull (Vorkstaartmeeuw) is the most sought-after of the Dutch North Sea gulls — a delicate, fork-tailed Arctic gull with bold black, white and grey wing pattern that migrates offshore along the eastern Atlantic in late August and September and is regularly encountered on productive BirdingHolland trips. Grey Phalarope (Grauwe franjepoot), the most oceanic of the three phalarope species — spending its entire non-breeding life at sea, spinning and picking at the surface in compact feeding flocks on upwelling-enriched water — is a prized find on North Sea trips in October and November, sometimes appearing alongside Red-necked Phalarope during early autumn. Northern Gannet (Jan-van-Gent), the largest seabird breeding in the North Atlantic, is present year-round in the North Sea and appears on every trip, sometimes in large concentrations of hundreds of birds plunge-diving over the same shoal. Auks complete the species list: Razorbill, Common Guillemot and Atlantic Puffin are all regularly seen on North Sea trips, particularly on passages transiting north or south through the central and northern sea.

The three departure ports give the programme a geographic breadth unusual in European pelagic birding. IJmuiden — at the mouth of the North Sea Canal where the shipping lanes into Amsterdam converge with the North Sea — is the most convenient departure for visitors based in or around Amsterdam. Scheveningen, the fishing harbour serving Den Haag on the Dutch coast of South Holland, gives access to the southern North Sea with a shorter steam to productive shelf waters. Lauwersoog, the small fishing port in Groningen province at the edge of the Wadden Sea, provides the closest access to the northern North Sea and the offshore waters north of the Frisian Islands — a route that passes through the Wierumergronden (shallow grounds north of the Groningen coast) and into open sea where Sooty Shearwaters, skuas and phalaropes concentrate in impressive numbers after northwest winds.

Private group bookings are available on request throughout the season, allowing organised birding groups to charter the vessel for specific target dates. Gift vouchers for BirdingHolland seabird trips can be purchased through the website. Bookings and schedule announcements are made through the birdingholland.nl website; contact [email protected] for private group enquiries and current date availability.