Tide Watcher field notes · texel & the wadden sea

A slow journal of crossings, dunes and weather along the Dutch coast.

Most mornings start the same way: a thermos, a tripod, and the ferry from Den Helder. What follows are short notes — tide times, light, a few birds, the colour of the channel — collected on and around the island of Texel.

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Today 't Horntje Wind WSW 4 Bft Visibility 12 km Air 11°C Water 9°C High tide 06:42 & 19:14
Crossing · entry 084

Two minutes of pink, then a slow grey

The 06:30 boat barely moves through Marsdiep, but the sun rises behind us and the whole bridge turns rose for as long as it takes to drink a coffee. By 't Horntje the colour is gone.

Den Helder — 't Horntje · 24 min
Dunes · entry 083

Marram grass after rain

De Slufter is at its best on a damp Tuesday: nobody around, the marram still wet, and the small creeks rearranging themselves on the salt flats. Bring boots, expect to soak them.

De Slufter, North Texel · mid morning
Birds · entry 082

The avocets came back this week

Counted thirty-two pairs at the Mokbaai mudflat. They picked their way along the tide line with the long blue legs of dancers warming up backstage. Patience is mostly waiting for them to settle.

Mokbaai · falling tide
“The Wadden is the only place I know where the landscape rewrites itself every six hours. You photograph what is there, knowing it will be gone before lunch.” — from the introduction, printed edition 2024

Tide log · the last fortnight

  1. De Cocksdorp. Calm bay, oystercatchers at the breakwater. Light flat until 17:30, then the channel went copper for ten minutes.
  2. Ferry deck. A North Sea grey straight from a Dutch master — everything in eight shades of the same colour. Stopped trying to photograph it after twenty minutes and just watched.
  3. Eierlandse Duinen. Wild parsley out at the foot of the lighthouse. Wind enough to lean into. Lens fogged within five minutes — lesson re-learned.
  4. Den Hoorn. Sheep at dawn, the church tower acting as a sundial. Talked to a beekeeper about the heather year ahead.
  5. Oudeschild. Trawlers in, gulls relentless. Asked an old skipper about the channel after dredging; he tapped the bench and said “different every winter, lad.”

About this page

Tide Watcher is one person, one camera and a stubborn habit of taking the early ferry. Nothing here is sponsored. If you want to send a postcard from your own coast, the address is at the bottom of the page.

Photographs and notes are released under a permissive licence: reuse freely with attribution and a link back. Commercial reproduction by arrangement; write first.