Rottumerplaat

Location of Rottumerplaat in the Wadden Sea

Observation post at Rottumerplaat

Rottumerplaat is one of the three islands that make up Rottum in the West Frisian Islands. The island is located in the North Sea off the Dutch coast. Access to the island is prohibited since Rottumerplaat is a resting and forage area for numerous bird species. Rijkswaterstaat, Staatsbosbeheer and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality are responsible for the administration of the island. Twice a year marine debris is cleaned from the island.

Sediment deposition has caused the island to become significantly larger in recent years.

Rottumerplaat is the northernmost point in the Netherlands (see Extreme points of the Netherlands).

Fauna

Rottumerplaat is a resting and forage area for Sanderling, Dunlin and Kentish Plovers. Common Eider, Common Shelduck, Arctic Tern, Common Tern, Little Tern, Kentish Plover and Ringed Plover nest on the island. From 1996 the Sandwich Tern nested on Rottumerplaat, but has since stopped doing so.

Godfried Bomans and Jan Wolkers

In 1971 writers Jan Wolkers and Godfried Bomans each spent a week on the island. Their only connection with the outside world was a short daily radio relay with VARA radio presenter Willem Ruis, who stayed at a hotel in nearby Warffum. The interviews were broadcast as a radio programme, Alone On An Island. For Godfried Bomans, the stay on the island was a disaster; he could not cope with the noise the many seagulls made and he was troubled by loneliness. Jan Wolkers however experienced his stay on the island as an adventure and kept himself alive by catching shrimps and eel, and boiling sea sandwort. He also rescued a young seal. Both authors published a book about their stay on the island.