The Wadden Islands Bird Festival, which raises money for birds on Texel, takes a lot of organisation. The majority of the costs are borne by the Dunes of Texel National Park and the Bird Information Centre. Your contribution will ensure that we can look after our hardworking volunteers, cover accommodation, room hire and advertising costs for the event. Without your kind support the Wadden Islands Bird Festival would not be possible.

In 2018, the Wadden Islands Bird Festival and the Texel Big Day will focus attention on House Martins. Although House Martins still breed in various locations on the island, they are having a difficult time. This is a well-known species that builds its characteristic nests under eaves of houses. Vogelbescherming Nederlandand SOVON have chosen the species as bird of the year 2018, and this is for good reason.

One of the most frequently asked questions in the Bird Information Centre is: Where are the best places to see or photograph certain species on Texel? This information is of course well known, but amongst a limited number of people. We would like to collate this information and make it accessible to visitors to Texel who want to enjoy its birds. This way everybody can plan their visit and maximise their enjoyment. However, the creation of a digital avifauna costs a lot of time and money.

For a long time there has been the need to make an accessible seawatching point on Texel. A point from which observers can look over the sea in a range of conditions while remaining sheltered from the wind. The dunes at Westerslag on the North Sea coast is one of the best locations for this as the seabirds here are close to the coast.

Although we have been able to create a number of shell islands for birds in recent years, it is still necessary to renew or expand other beaches. It takes a lot of effort from site manager Natuurmonumenten to maintain these areas so that birds have a safe place to breed and so that everyone to enjoy the birds at these sites. The charity recognises the importance of these areas for both birds and birdwatchers and continues to support the improvement and renewing of the shell islands and beaches.