Broadwits

I'm back in Belgium after a lovely weekend with some old birding friends on the Norfolk broads.  The above was taken during our peaceful boat trip on Hickling Broad and shows one of the thatched hides we visited in the middle of the reedbed and which can only be reached by boat, with the obligatory Marsh Harrier floating over.  They were everywhere and, at one point, we had six of them in the air together!
The scrape in front of this hide held a nice selection of various waders, including the two Bar-tailed Godwits below.  At first, the difference in colouration, size and bill shape made us think the larger one was a Black-tailed Godwit but, as a passing harrier flushed them, the presumed black'wit also revealed a barred tail.  Other good birds seen over the weekend were a Fulmar passing low over my head on Great Yarmouth beach, several Red-legged Partridge, a bunch of Dunlin in summer plumage, a dozen or more Whimbrel, Whinchat, a Nightingale seen singing, a party of four Ring Ouzel, plus several Dartford Warblers on Dunwich Heath.

Nesting by numbers

Without really looking for them, I found a bunch of nests during a short walk around my Brussels patch earlier this week.  I counted at least five occupied Coot nests, three different Mute Swan nests, and one belonging to a pair of Canada Goose.  The eggs in the Grey Heron nest, which was started in early March, have finally hatched into a couple of prehistoric-looking, shaggy chicks, and the resident pair of Kingfishers were sitting around outside last year's nest tunnel so they could well be nesting again.  If only I had more time to survey the area thoroughly, it would be interesting to find out just how many occupied nests there are at the moment.  Our female Ferruginous Duck, however, here for three winters in a row, is all alone and has even been abandoned by her Tufted friends, leaving her with just the male Wood Duck for company. 
Now that would make an interesting hybrid!

Polder primetime

Spring migration really got under way this past week with no less than 7300 Meadow Pipits passing the migration watchpoint at Breskens on Wednesday, followed by another 12,000 on Friday!  On Thursday, I had a day in the coastal polders with a couple from Canada, and there were pipits everywhere.  In one small field containing at least 30 Meadow Pipits, I suddenly noticed a partially leucistic bird with a bright white collar making it look like a miniature Ruff.  This really is the best time of the year to visit the polders as the Lapwings were constantly displaying and chasing off everything that ventured too close to their territories.  Black-tailed Godwits and Avocets were also displaying and a couple of male Bluethroats perched up on fenceposts and sang, sitting still long enough for us to admire them in the telescope, which doesn't happen very often.  The first Sedge Warblers sang out of sight from the reeds, and migrants included 3 Whimbrel, several Sand Martin, and a couple of Marsh Harriers.  My visitors were surprised just how many birds were predominantly black and white (Avocet, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Spotted Redshank, Shelduck, Shoveler, Spoonbill, Little Egret, White Wagtail, Reed Bunting, etc.), but even the Bluethroats' colours were eclipsed by the brightness of two male Blue-headed Wagtails found right at the end of our walk and which took our day's total to 67 species.

Eureka!

I decided to spend last night in the Ardennes in the hope of finally adding Tengmalm's Owl to my Belgian list.  Not long after I started my night-time walk, I heard what I thought was one in the distance but it was very faint and too brief to be sure.  Despite heading in the general direction of where it seemed to come from, I never heard it again, so unfortunately had to leave it as unconfirmed.  Some time later, though, I did get to listen to a Long-eared Owl singing, so my nocturnal wanderings were not in vain. 
This morning, I had a walk around the area to see which diurnal birds were around.  A singing Blackcap greeted me, seeming rather out of place with the thick, overnight, frost around.  There were lots of Fieldfares, Dippers displaying, Willow Tits singing, some bright Yellowhammers, and even a Muskrat gathering nesting material in the river.  Right at the end of the walk, I noticed a tortoiseshell butterfly sunning itself on the path.  My instant reaction now is to take a photo of these, as you can't really differentiate between them in general field conditions and, sure enough, this one turned out to be my first Large Tortoiseshell.  I've been wanting to see this species for several years and have even made a couple of trips especially to no avail so I was not expecting to find one of these, albeit a very worn individual presumably just out of hibernation.  Eureka!