My home town is the town of IJmuiden. IJmuiden is a fishing town at the North Sea coast of North-Holland and is surrounded by a steel factory on the north side, National park Zuid-Kennemerland on the south side and the North Sea in the west. The coast of IJmuiden is an amazing place to look for wildlife. One of the best places are definitely the beach and the pier. IJmuiden has one of the widest beaches of the Netherlands which can be over 300 meters from the dunes to the sea. The beach is the perfect place to look at coastal birds foraging, at seaweed washed a shore and to look for mermaid purses (egg cases of sharks and rays). On occasion you might even see a seal resting on the beach. Next to the beach we have the zuidpier (south pier) which stretches into the sea for nearly 2 kilometers. The pier is open for recreation, if weather permitting. What this means is that you can walk into the sea for 2km and be surrounded by the sea. Which provides for any wildlife lover an amazing opportunity to look for marine wildlife in their natural habitat. Many birders are attracted to the pier, for it is the perfect spot to look at sea birds and also migratory birds. Besides birds, the pier is an amazing place to spot marine mammals. The pier is definitely my favourite place in IJmuiden.
A juvenile herring gull with the steel factory in the background, picture taken by me.
But what are my favourite sightings? You'll always be able to see a variety of bird species on the pier. The species I see nearly every single time are: Herring gull (Larus argentatus) , Black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) , Sanderling (Calidris alba) , Ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres) , Lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) , Eurasian oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) , Great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus) , cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). Of these bird species seeing sanderling and ruddy turnstones always puts a smile on my face, just by seeing them running around on the sides of the pier foraging.
In the autumn/ winter the Zuidpier attracts many guest for example Eider ducks (Somateria mollissima) , Northern gannets (Morus bassanus) and various species of Loons (Gaviidae). There are many more species of coastal birds, waders and seabirds that visit the Zuidpier.
My actual favourite species to see from the pier are actually more difficult to spot than birds, marine mammals are my absolute favourite. I just get so excited by seeing a little black triangle skimming the surface of the North Sea. The black triangle is the dorsal fin of the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). The harbour porpoise is the only cetacean (whale/dolphin/porpoise) species that can be found in the Dutch coastal waters. And the Zuidpier is actually one of the best places to spot harbour porpoises in the Netherlands, after the Oosterschelde (easterscheldt) in Zeeland. However to be able and see a porpoise the weather conditions needs to be perfect, not to much wind and calm sees. Whenever there is a swell or white caps on the sea its definitely more difficult to spot them, as porpoises are very small, with an average length of 1.5 meters.
Seals on the other hand are easier to spot as they can be seen with there heads above the surface for longer, if you are lucky you might even see the seals hauled up onto the basalt rocks of the pier to rest. There are two species of seals that can be seen from the pier and the beach the harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) and the grey seal (Halichoerus gryphus) .
Harbour seal on the basalt rocks of the pier with a mackerel, picture taken by me.
The rarest sighting I have done from the pier is a bigger cetacean than the porpoise. For if you are extremely lucky and I mean extremely lucky, the Dutch North Sea can be visited by humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)! In the autumn of 2018 at least one and at some point two humpback whales were enjoying the Dutch coast by swimming back and forth past the coast. They could be seen from the beaches of various towns. In December one of them was spotted from the zuidpier, when I got the notification I immediately dropped everything jumped on my bicycle and went to the pier and stayed there for nearly two hours just constantly observing my very first humpback! Funnily enough, at that time I was actually working on my thesis project about humpback whales and their vocalizations, without ever having seen a single humpback. For me it really made working on my thesis complete.
Humback whale blow surrounded by many birds as seen from the pier December 2018, picture taken by me.
All in all, if you love marine wildlife the zuidpier of IJmuiden is an amazing place to visit. But don't forget your binoculars and/or camera for some birds and marine mammals are further out in the sea and can only be seen through the binoculars. Thank you for reading my very first blog post introducing my home town and the marine wildlife that can be seen.
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