Late May round-up

Last week, I had another morning at my Brussels patch, seeing a total of 40 species.  The site has only ever had two records of Marsh Warbler, both of which were mine, so I was beginning to wonder if I might have been mistaken.  There were plenty of Reed Warblers singing but I then heard one bird which sounded distinctly different and was sticking to the bushes at the edge of the reedbed.  I got some brief glimpses of it but, crucially, I also got a short recording of its song, enabling me to confirm its identity as the third Marsh Warbler for the reserve, as well as reassuring myself about the accuracy of my previous records.  A male Bullfinch was a new addition to my site list, which now stands at 99 species!
I then spent a morning guiding a visiting birder around Mechels Broek nature reserve near Mechelen.  We managed a very respectable tally of 61 species with nothing really unusual, but fabulous scope views of Reed, Marsh and Sedge Warblers singing, allowing my visitor to get to grips with this difficult, skulky trio.
The weekend (both days!) was spent on Kalmthout Heath, where this Woodlark showed well as it took a  dustbath.  Tree Pipits were singing all over the place and I also caught up with some of the other summer migrants such as Common Redstart, Hobby and Mediterranean Gull.  As was the case at Mechels Broek, some constant begging calls led us to the location of a Great Spotted Woodpecker nest but, this time, we could see the entrance hole so I set up the telescope and waited for an adult to come in, with the hungry, red-headed juvenile appearing briefly to grab its meal.

From Spain to Sweden

Distant Great Spotted Cuckoos by Massimiliano Dettori

Since my Spanish trip towards the end of April, I've had very little time for birding.  In fact, the only Belgian birding I managed was a morning around my regular patch in Brussels, where this Carrion Crow seemed to be compensating for its drab plumage by perching amongst some blossom.
Other than that, the park behind my apartment turned up yet another surprise in the form of a Grasshopper Warbler singing briefly one morning, and the return of our summer visitors has added Blackcap and Swift to my ever-increasing balcony list. 

Last week, however, I was in Stockholm and, thanks to some helpful local birders, I got to visit the lovely Lake Angarn (see below) to the north of the city.  Here, Yellowhammers were singing, Cranes were calling and I got to watch a pair of summer-plumaged Slavonian Grebes mating.  The marsh was littered with Wood Sandpipers, probably 150 to 200 of them, which kept rising up and moving around in large groups, and a small group of Ruff were busy displaying.  The main reason we were there, though, was for Great Snipe, as this area often attracts them on migration and my visit just happened to coincide with the peak time for them in the Stockholm area.  We waited and waited and waited until, finally, just before 10pm, we heard the strange, simultaneous clicking and duck-like whistling of a Great Snipe singing at close range.  Of course, by that time it was too dark to see anything so it became my 2nd heard-only lifer in less than three weeks, but an exhilarating experience nonetheless.