This summer's blue theme continued during a walk in the south-east of Brussels earlier this week with this Common Blue posing nicely. I was surprised to find two Firecrests, a species which is primarily a passage migrant and winter visitor here. In fact, the only time I've ever seen them in June, July or August was down in Belgian Luxembourg, their breeding stronghold, so seeing two here now is a good indication that they may have bred within Brussels this year. Another rare breeding species for Brussels, this Little Grebe and its partner were busy feeding two young chicks.
The biggest surprise of the day, however, came in the form of a large, unidentified bat foraging for insects in broad daylight.
Today, I visited a nature reserve near Liège for Chalk-hill Blue butterfly (below). I had noticed that this particular reserve held a thriving colony of this species, which I have never seen, so I decided to give it a try. I must have seen around 100 individuals, many of which were in a mating frenzy, with several males swarming around each female. The Dutch name translates as 'pale blue', which is quite appropriate as it looks almost ghost-like in flight, quite unlike the other blues. I saw 20 species of butterfly in total, including a bonus, new species for me, a Dingy Skipper.
