Berlin beauties

I returned to Berlin last weekend and a trip there is simply not complete without me visiting the Moorlinse Buch.  Since last year's visit got me my one and only Large Chequered Skipper, I was keen to see if I could find it again but the weather was terrible for butterfly activity; overcast with strong winds and the occasional light shower.  I still headed to the spot I found it last year, to no avail, but was content seeing several birds we don't get in Brussels such as the breeding Red-necked Grebes, Red-backed Shrike, my first-in-Germany Corn Bunting singing, and a Tree Sparrow family with some ever-so-cute fledglings.  The area is bordered to both the west and north by other nature reserves, so I decided to continue from the western one (where I found last year's lifer) to the northern one, which I'd never explored.  Just when I'd given up hope on lightning striking twice, a small skipper darted across the track and landed in the the grass and I instantly knew what it was.

Exhilarated by this discovery, I continued through the rain, trusting the forecast that it would clear by mid afternoon, to an area I'd noticed had just two previous reports of another lifer butterfly for me.  This one seemed even rarer and, with very few butterflies on the wing, I really didn't expect anything but nothing ventured nothing gained.  Unbelievably, as soon as I got to an area I thought looked like good habitat, I spotted another small brown butterfly in flight and had a feeling it was what I was looking for.  It co-operatively perched for just a few minutes before disappearing again, allowing me to get several pictures of my first Chestnut Heath!  

Dainty surprise

My birding starts to take a backseat in June as my attention is drawn to butterflies and dragonflies.  Yesterday, I visited one of Belgium's best reserves for butterflies near Couvin and it was swarming with Marbled Whites.  I saw at least 22 species, culminating in this magnificent Lesser Purple Emperor.  A couple of weeks ago, I tried and failed to find my lifer Dainty Damselfly, a Mediterranean species which is rapidly spreading north, after one had been reported in a Brussels park.  The following day, I went looking for butterflies in Belgian Luxembourg, not finding the species I was hoping for but getting this nice High Brown Fritillary instead.  I also took a few damselfly photo's and, once I got home, I realised they were Dainty Damselflies, the very species I'd tried to find the day before!

Cross-border butterflying

Last month, I spent a week in Basel.  I did a little birding, seeing Dipper, Black Woodpecker, a male Golden Oriole, and a pair of Ruddy Shelduck with no less than 10 goslings, but my main target was my lifer Reverdin's Blue.  A local had given me some good tips so I walked over the border to a nice little nature reserve just inside Germany.  At first, there didn't seem to be any blues whatsoever but I did manage to find a couple of males, although I wasn't at all sure at the time since they seemed to be lacking the silver-centred black spots typical of this genus.

Black and blue

I did some more evening birding over the weekend with a trip to see Nightjars on their breeding grounds along the Dutch border.  We got to watch several birds displaying, including lots of wing-clapping, and heard many more, with their churring song echoing around the heath as we left.  It was, however, my first trip to the heathland this year, so I went back yesterday morning to catch up with some of the diurnal specialties of this habitat.  A far too early start for my day off paid off with at least four Hobbies putting on a wonderful show as they caught dragonflies low above the Stappersven, which held two, summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebes.  The heathland was now filled with the song of Tree Pipit, Willow Warbler and Woodlark instead of Nightjars and I even found a dead, juvenile Smooth Snake along the road.  Best of all, though, were two very elusive species - Black Woodpecker seen twice and a singing Bluethroat.

June is by far the best time to visit the heathlands, which can almost seem devoid of birds, apart from the ubiquitous Stonechat, later in the summer.

Northern night's

Last night, I added the first new species to my Belgian list since last September's Siberian Stonechat! 
This time, it was a heard-only Thrush Nightingale which was only reported a few days ago but has apparently been around for a couple of weeks.  It was only giving sporadic bursts of half-hearted song until I left just after 9pm but then really got going according to those who stayed later.  

Photo-birding

Over the weekend, I took part in the first-ever Brussels edition of iNaturalist's City Nature Challenge.  The idea is to make as many documented observations of plants and animals as possible and Brussels is the only city in Belgium participating this year.  I decided to do my regular route around my Brussels patch but it was quite a challenge switching from my usual routine of trying to see things to trying to photograph them all, with common but skulky species such as Wren taking up much more time than I would usually spend on them.  In the end, I managed to photograph 38 species (31 birds, 3 butterflies, 2 mammals, 1 plant and 1 snail), including my first Swifts of the year which appeared over my balcony on Sunday morning.

Back to business

I finally managed to get back to my Brussels patch this morning, finding the first Blackcap of the year for the reserve as well as a Long-tailed Tit nest!  Butterflies were on the wing and I saw at least four species; Brimstone, Small White, Peacock plus this Red Admiral.

Tracking a familiar call in the forest, I managed to locate a Middle Spotted Woodpecker, while this Water Rail was sitting in an opening in the reeds and preening itself, allowing for unusually prolonged views of this super secretive skulker.