In this second Texel series I would like to show you one of the wildlife-hotspots of Texel. I'm having a little trouble to call it a hotspot, as I was able to see maybe 4 more nature photographers away during the whole 2 weeks, in total 😉
The Wagejot consists of brackish water: on the one hand it fills up with water from the Wadden Sea, on the other hand it also fills up with rainwater. It therefore contains many micro-organisms which the birds eat.
The area has sandbanks in "2 rows" and for photographic purposes the front sandbank is the place to shoot 😉 Ornithologists use their spotting scopes to follow the distant birds. Most of the birds stayed again on the back sandbank, but there were 4-5 breeding pairs on the front sandbank. 4 pairs of avocets, 2 of them in photogenic places. I was hoping that the avocets breeding period of about 24 days was finished during my stay and the first chicks would show up.
And exactly that worked - about 5 days before departure the first chick hatched, the next day the 3 others. What I needed now were 3 ingredients, because I wanted to photograph them per highkey with soft and bright backgrounds: soft light (i.e. soft morning light or an overcast but bright morning sky), little wind (otherwise nasty greyish shadows form in the background) and a higher water level (otherwise too many restless mud spots appear).
Only 2 days before departure, a strong rain during the night filled up the area and the wind decreased. I finally had good conditions I needed, at least for 2 days I was able to take pictures of freshly hatched avocets and it was wonderful to watch them.
Besides I was able to realize some pictures of Sandwich Terns, which I could not realize here before.
I wish you a lot of fun with this series!
Thank you very much for watching this series and many greetings,
Thomas