Vincent van der Spek

Vincent van der Spek lives in The Hague, the Netherlands with his partner Keete and their children Mees and Rozemarijn, near an area with the most extensive visible migration in Northwest Europe.

He started birding at the age of six and it did not take long before it became a way of life rather than a pastime! Vincent has a degree in nature management and he currently works as an ecologist and monitoring specialist.

Vincent has travelled to over 50 countries and all the continents in the pursuit of birds, with Asia being his greatest love (admittedly, food plays a part in this as well as the birds!). But he still very much values local birding as well, both in the field and as a fully licenced ringer/bander. He has travelled extensively in Asia and in particular in China, Central Asia,  Turkey, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

As a Dutchman, he of course mostly moves around by bike! Vincent has been guiding day trips and tours since his early twenties. After serving the maximum term of eight years in the Dutch rarity committee, he got more time for another interest: writing papers and articles. Dozens of his articles about occurrence, ecology and identification have been published in international magazines like British Birds, Bird Watch, The Bulletin of the British Ornithologist’s Club, Dutch Birding, Cotinga and many more. Currently, he is turning his long-running study on chiffchaff genetics into a PhD. As if that was not enough, he has also started a long-term project as a co-author of a Helm Guide that will finally cover all the leaf warblers of the world.

As a guide, Vincent is of course keen on finding the target birds – but also on having a good laugh in the process. And preferably a proper dinner to boot.