East of my hometown, Spijkenisse lays the Beerenplaat, a water purification company, where water from the Biesbosch is cleared and made drinkable for Rotterdam and surroundings. Just below the Beerenplaat lays the Wolvenpolder, a former piece of farming ground that is given back to nature some four years ago. The top layer of this land is removed and most of the year it is covered with a shallow pool.

    

It is great to see that stilts and meadow birds have found their way to this local patch. I found 12 species of ducks there: Shoveler, Tufted duck, Mallard, Pintail, Gadwell, Shelduck, Widgeon, Eurasian Teal, Garganey,Greater Scaup, Common and Redbreasted merganser.

Also Cormorant, Crested grebe and 7 species of Geese and Swans: Barnacle goose, Great Canadian goose, Gray-legged goose, White-fronted goose, Mute swan and Black swan.

Also gulls (7 species) know their way to the Wolvenpolder: Black-headed gull, Lesser and Greater Black-backed gull, Herring gull, Caspian gull, Mediterranean gull and Common tern.

Also waders are doing well here: Northern lapwing, Little ringed plover, Common ringed plover, Black-bellied plover, Common snipe, Black-tailed godwit, Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew, Spotted Redshank, Common Redshank, Common greenshank, Green sandpiper, Common sandpiper, Sanderling, Dunlin, Temminck's sandpiper, Curlew sandpiper, Ruff and Oystercatcher.

Also birds of prey (6 species): Common kestrel, Peregrine falcon, Goshawk, Sparrowhawk, Marsh harrier, Red kite and two species of owls: Barn owl and Short-eared owl.

And 4 species of Swifts and Swallows: Common swift, Barn swallow, House martin and Bank martin.

And all kinds of passerines, among others: Wheatear, Spotted starling< Blackbird, Field fare, Reed bunting, White, Yellow, Yellowish-crowned and Pied wagtail, Meadow pipit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and common chaffinch.

Currently this patch has a registered number of 158 species! Not bad for a couple of acres...