The Gambia - part 2

My first breakfast on the open-air patio at Badala Park was a little overwhelming, with hornbills and Green Wood-hoopoes flying around, monkeys trying to steal my watermelon, and birds I couldn't even identify.  The above, accompanied by one of the myriads of white butterflies which were absolutely everywhere and seen coming in off the sea in huge swarms, was later confirmed by my guide to be a Bronze-tailed Glossy Starling.  The first morning being taken up by an orientation meeting with our local rep, my guide offered to take me out for a few hours around Kotu in the afternoon, with me adding another 22 species before the 'real' birding began the following day.  I had asked for one half day and three "full days", the first of which saw us spending no less than twelve and a half hours in the field!  We started at Brufut Woods, where I saw my first African Green Pigeons, bright-red Black-winged Bishops, and three species of owls staked out on their daytime roosts.  We then moved to Tanji bird reserve for a beautiful lunch overlooking the ocean before scanning the assembled gulls and terns on the beach, finishing the day at Tujering Woods, where the cute little Brubru was one of my favourites.  I finally got back to the hotel after dark having seen another 48 new species in just one day and was so exhausted that we decided to move my half day forward for me to recover!

 

Verreaux's Eagle-Owl with its ridiculous pink eyelids

The Gambia - part 1

This time last month I was in The Gambia!  Seeing as I'd not been outside of Europe this year, I decided to treat myself to a short trip to somewhere I'd always wanted to go, easily combining a cheap package holiday with several days with one of the many local birding guides.

My first Gambian birds - Pied Crow and Hooded Vulture

Arriving at the airport, the sky was full of vultures and Pied Crows and I already identified my first lifer, a Long-tailed Glossy Starling, from the bus to the terminal.  The second, an African Mourning Dove, then came and drank from a puddle as I waited for the transfer to my accommodation, Badala Park Hotel in Kotu.  I'd chosen this rather basic hotel as the grounds were supposed to be good for birds and, once inside my room, I went out on the balcony and immediately saw an African Paradise Flycatcher, one of the (many) birds I most wanted to see!

I then spotted one of the Green Monkeys which would hang around the breakfast area waiting for handouts, before exploring the hotel grounds.  New birds followed thick and fast and the swamp behind the hotel provided Black Crake, Malachite Kingfisher and Hadada Ibis, among others.  After a while, I bumped into one of the local guides who invited me to tag along with his tour to the famous Kotu bridge, just a couple of minutes' walk from my hotel, where I saw my first Hamerkop, as well as Blue-breasted and Giant Kingfishers and the brightly-coloured Yellow-crowned Gonolek.  After just a few hours in The Gambia, I'd already seen 24 new species by the evening, when I met my guide to discuss the next few days.

Western Red-billed Hornbill

BButterfly advent Day 24

And finally, the butterfly holy grail - the one and only Purple Emperor I have ever seen.  Amazingly, I saw this in exactly the same spot as yesterday's Lesser Purple Emperor, although there was a three-year gap between the two observations.
I wish you all a very Merry Xmas and a birdy and butterfly-ful 2016!

BButterfly advent Day 23

Another species I saw for the first time this year was this magnificent Lesser Purple Emperor in the forest between Torgny and Virton.

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The second species was Marbled Fritillary, a recent coloniser from southern Europe.  Once again, the underwing pattern is crucial in distinguishing this species from the slightly commoner Lesser Marbled Fritillary.

The mayor of Iceland

I was in Amsterdam over the weekend and twitched this second-winter Iceland Gull on a city lake.  The Dutch name translates as little mayor, due to its similarity with Glaucous Gull or 'big mayor', which itself got its name from early seafarers who named it after its stately posture and dominant behaviour towards other gulls.  Appropriately enough, my first Iceland Gulls were in Iceland ten year's ago and this is only the fourth one I've seen since then.  As for my balcony list, currently standing at 39 species since I moved in, the only recent addition was a couple of hunting Peregrines.

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This summer, I added two species of fritillaries to my Belgian butterfly list.  This Bog Fritillary was at a nature reserve in Belgian Luxembourg and can be identified by the line of pale-centered rings on the underwing.

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Marbled White is not, in fact, a member of the white family with which we are all familiar, but one of the few black-and-white members of the Satyridae family, which includes both Meadow Brown and Ringlet.

BButterfly advent Day 19

Three species of Clouded Yellow occur in Belgium and they are very difficult to tell apart.  Two of them are migrants, occasionally occurring in large numbers, while Berger's Clouded Yellow shown here has a small population in the very south of Belgium, where they are restricted to chalk grasslands along the French and Luxembourgish borders.

BButterfly advent Day 18

Meadow Brown, on the other hand, is very similar to Gatekeeper, and both are found in grassy places.  Meadow Brown lacks the small white spots on the underwing of the Gatekeeper and has a broader, unbroken pale band (see Day 1).

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Ringlet is a widespread, woodland species easily identified by the line of rings on the underwing.

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Painted Lady is another migrant, recolonising Western Europe from North Africa each spring, although numbers vary greatly from year to year.

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Red Admiral is a common and conspicuous migrant visitor, occurring from late summer well into the autumn.

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Chequered Skipper is one of Belgium's rarer species, mainly being found in the south-east of the country.

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Even smaller in size, the skippers are another large family which are structurally different from other butterflies and often considered to be a missing link between true butterflies and moths.  The predominant colouration of our commonest species is orange and brown, Large Skipper being most easily distinguished by the pale 'windows' on the underwing.

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Green Hairstreak is also in the same family as the blues and coppers and is a heathland specialist.  Only the undersides of the wings are this distinctive shade of green, however, the upperside being dark brown in both sexes.

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Violet Copper, on the other hand, is restricted to a few protected localities in Belgian Luxembourg and classified as endangered by the IUCN.

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The coppers are in the same family and of a similar size to the blues.  Small Copper is by far our commonest and most widespread species.

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Chak-hill Blue is an extremely localised and scarce species mainly found in south-eastern Belgium.  In August, I made a special trip to an old chalk quarry near Liège in order to see this species for the first time.  The thriving colony there was in a mating frenzy, the brown female here surrounded by several males, which are much paler than the other blues and look almost white in flight.

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The Brown Argus is also a member of the blue family despite being predominantly brown and orange.

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Another common species but much more difficult to identify as it spends most of its time high up in trees and bushes, is Holly Blue.  Notice the very pale and relatively plain underwing compared to Common Blue.

BButterfly advent Day 6

After the pictures of the past few days, you'd be forgiven for thinking all of Belgium's butterflies are a combination of orange, black and brown.  That is far from the truth, however, and we also have several species of blues.  In order to identify the members of this large family, it is essential to get good looks at the underside of the wings, these two photo's showing two very different views of our commonest species, the Common Blue.

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Similar in colouration to the tortoiseshells but with a distinctive, irregular wing shape, is the Comma, another widespread and common species.

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Large Tortoiseshell, on the other hand, is much rarer and difficult to tell apart from its more numerous cousin.  This ragged individual was the first I have managed to identify.  Notice how the black patches on the forewing extend further back than the smaller, white parts, as well as the slightly different configuration of black spots and generally paler colouration.

BButterfly advent Day 3

Small Tortoiseshell is one of Belgium's commonest and most easily recognisable butterfly species.

BButterfly advent Day 2

The Map Butterfly is one of the few European species with two distinct generations.  Yesterday's picture showed the largely black-and-white form of late summer which is very different to (and originally thought to be a separate species from) those appearing in spring.

BButterfly advent Day 1

As this was my first summer in Europe since 2012, I did quite a bit of Belgian butterflying, seeing five new species as a result.  I thus decided to dedicate this year's online advent calendar to Belgian butterflies, with the aim of providing a mini photographic identification guide to some of Belgium's commonest and prettiest species.  To start with, here is nice, late-summer image of a Map Butterfly and Gatekeeper feeding on thistles.