On Sunday, I had a long, sunny day at the coast, starting in Ostend. I was pleased to see a Rock Pipit well, a species I often only hear, and the Spuikom held the above two winter-plumaged Black-necked Grebes as well as a female Red-breasted Merganser, all of which were good additions to my new year list. Most unexpected of all, however, was a Common Sandpiper. It seems the mild winter has encouraged a few of them to try to overwinter, especially along the coast. I then moved on to the polders, where the geese seemed to be few and far between at first, with just a few, small groups of White-fronts. I eventually found some Barnacles, though, and saw a small group of Pink-feet in flight but, other than that, plus several Grey Partridges displaying, it was fairly quiet. I even tried to hang on for the Short-eared Owls to appear but the combination of cold and a full moon meant that I gave up well before they came out to play. Nevertheless, I finished the day with a year list of 72 species, which is not bad going for the first week of January.
