Memories are the gold of our soul, a life-experienced friend once told me. Against the backdrop of this thought, I want to kick off this blog with a post about my European Golden Plover shooting in August. I spotted the goldies in the Dutch Wadden Sea during low tide, essentially on the sea floor. The Wadden Sea is one of the most significant stopover sites for many migratory birds, where they gather the necessary energy for their exhausting journey from the far North to Southern Europe or Africa. This post is the first in a three-part series about my recent visit to the Dutch island of Texel, which is closely intertwined with my biography.
The golden plover stands on a bed of mussels. Six hours later, that mussel bed was more than a meter underwater. The tides shape the Wadden Sea.
In Europe, the largest Wadden Sea in the world stretches from the Netherlands through Germany to Denmark. Characteristic of this ›tidal system‹ are the ebb and flow, which alternate roughly in a 6‑hour rhythm: twice a day, the tidal flats are underwater, and twice a day, they are dry. Many organisms in the Wadden Sea are therefore adapted to life both underwater and on land. Typical species found in the Wadden Sea include the lugworm, the ragworm, blue mussels, heart cockles, and sand gapers. These creatures serve as a food source for wading birds, making the Wadden Sea an ideal place to observe and photograph various bird species.
As every year since 2019, I was also on the island of Texel this year, located in the Dutch Wadden Sea. Together with other volunteers from the Waddenvereniging, I guided tourists onto the tidal flats near De Cocksdorp to introduce them to the Wadden Sea ecosystem. When I wasn’t leading excursions, I had some free time, which I of course used to pursue various photography projects. One of my projects this year was to photograph European Golden Plovers (Pluvialis apricaria).
Where are the best places to photograph golden plovers?
I scheduled my stay on Texel for late summer, when the golden plovers stop in the Wadden Sea on their journey from their breeding grounds in Scandinavia to their wintering areas in Southern Europe, to rest and replenish their fat reserves. The Dutch portal waarneming.nl helped me choose the exact timing. During my stay on Texel, I was able to spot thousands of golden plovers. These small birds often form large flocks that make a lot of noise.
During high tide, the golden plovers gathered on the numerous bodies of water between the dike and the island’s interior. One well-known spot among German photographers is the Wagejot nature area. During low tide, I encountered the golden plovers on the tidal flats, where they were busy foraging. This is a typical behavior of many wading birds: resting at low tide and feeding at high tide.
Those who feed must also relieve themselves. Using burst mode is a great way to capture such moments.
I rarely choose to photograph the waters behind the dike (e.g., Wagejot) because the birds there are not very active and tend to stay far from the shore. The low shooting perspective that I love so much is often not achievable there. Therefore, I decided to photograph the golden plovers on the tidal flats.
In some areas of the Wadden Sea, access is prohibited. Additionally, there are deep mudflats that can swallow a two-meter-tall person, as well as sharp-shelled mussels that can cut exposed flesh. Although ebb and flow, along with the strong currents, are quite predictable, these natural phenomena, combined with sudden weather changes or dense coastal fog, can be life-threatening. Thus, shoots on the Wadden Sea require special know-how and often provide intense experiences with nature.
The Wadden Sea is unpredictable.
The golden plovers often gathered on a young mussel bed that hadn’t existed in 2023. To get there, I had to wade through water up to my hips. A thick sweater kept me warm for about an hour, but then it soaked up water. Without a rain jacket, I would have been completely soaked in just a few minutes.
Hiding away somewhere on the island is not an option for the golden plover. As long as the tidal flats are dry, it needs to build up enough reserves for its journey to Southern Europe.
Due to a dense cloud cover, there was little light, and I had to use longer shutter speeds than I would have liked, resulting in many blurred images. However, I also managed to capture enough sharp photos. When a sudden downpour broke from the clouds, I decided to end the shoot. I was already completely soaked, so the rain didn’t bother me, but I didn’t want to risk water damage to my camera. Therefore, it went into a waterproof backpack. Such backpacks are extremely practical for shoots in the Wadden Sea.
For me, the golden plovers, with their vibrant plumage, are a delight to behold. However, the photos are truly special to me because of the interplay between the brilliant goldies, the young mussel bed, and the rain. The mussel bed, which has suddenly emerged within a year, symbolises not only the dynamism of the Wadden Sea but also provides a dark background against which the plovers stand out beautifully. The raindrops visible in some images symbolise the natural forces that can be experienced so intensely in the Wadden Sea.
