Wallcreeper revisited!

Last Tuesday I was finally able to see the Wallcreeper in the ENCI quarry, also known as  ‘Eagle Owl valley’. On Wednesday Natuurmonumenten (a Dutch organisation for nature conservation) announced an excursion into the quarry for today, Saturday December 4th. There was space for 50 participants and the excursion sold out within three hours!

Today the 50 lucky birders gathered at the entrance gate of the ENCI factory. The quarry is still in use to produce cement and due to safety regulations the maximum number of participants was restricted to 50 and we had to stay together for the duration of the tour. After opening the gate, we quickly walked to the old part of the quarry. Our first stop was the quarry wall on the south, where the bird is regular seen and as we arrive someone gets a phone call from another birder who is looking from the southern viewpoint that the bird is seen in the utmost left hole. The group starts to scan the walls, but no luck. We are allowed to climb the small hill, which gives us a perfect view over the southern wall and all the holes where they used to mine. After a while our guides decide we will first visit the Eagle Owls in the northern part of the quarry. As we walk over, a Snow Bunting flies across the road and was seen several times again during the afternoon. Snow Bunting is a local rarity as it is normally restricted to our coast line and it’s a first for me in Limburg.

In the northern part of the quarry we get a different perspective on the famous quarry wall where the Eagle Owls normally roost. I quickly find both Eagle Owls, as they sit on the same location as last Tuesday: one underneath the Pine tree and the other a few meters to its left on the rock wall. We have a perfect view on the Eagle Owls, especially the one on the rock wall. The bird is very alert and fully aware that we are all looking at him. After everyone has photographed them, we return to the southern section in hope to find the Wallcreeper. All of us climb the small hill again and start scanning the quarry wall. Very soon we hear one of the birders yell out: ‘I got him, in the hole in the quarry wall”! After some more detailed explanation of the location, we all get the Wallcreeper in our scopes: what a wonderful bird! During the 45 minutes we get perfect views as the Wallcreeper forages across the wall, showing its wings and as it flies short sections in front of the wall. After a while the bird disappears from view into the holes in the quarry wall and we are all ecstatic on how the bird showed itself (it must have been a lifer for many of the birders here). We need to head back to the main entrance as we have been allowed entry until four o’clock. At the gate we all thank the ENCI guards and the guides from Natuurmonumenten for this perfect excursion into the quarry.

Watch a newsclip from the WDR, recorded during the excursion!