At long last, it has finally stopped raining! We have had the equivalent of a usual January's total rainfall in the past two weeks so I've not been out much since last weekend. Today, though, was very different with blue skies and some weak sunshine, so I headed to Kalmthout Heath. The forest was, as is usually the case in winter, very quiet, until I suddenly found myself surrounded by a huge mixed flock of various tits, dozens of Goldcrests, Short-toed Treecreeper, and both Great and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. At the same time, a Black Woodpecker made a brief appearance, no doubt checking what all the commotion was about. Above the heath, there were lots of lines of White-fronted Geese which all converged on the flooded meadow; I counted at least 400 of them on the ground with still more to arrive.
By lunchtime, though, I was starting to feel cold so I decided to warm up on the train on my way to the suburbs of Ghent, where some Penduline Tits seem to be overwintering. Strange place for what is usually a rare passage migrant in Belgium, I thought, until I arrived and saw bulrushes everywhere! I don't think I've ever seen quite so many, so the Penduline Tits have got plenty of food to see them through the winter, and I soon found them feeding quietly on the seedheads. There was even a Siberian Chiffchaff (below) doing exactly the same, although I couldn't tell if it too was eating the seeds or perhaps gleaning insects.
