Well, I had hoped to start the year off with a big day to try and reach 100 species but the weather put paid to those plans so I ended up just having a half-day at my Brussels patch instead, where I saw or heard just 40 species. The light was making the colours of this lone Red-crested Pochard glow, and our regular, female Ferruginous Duck, here for five winters in a row, was also there. Since then, I've added a handful of species around Brussels, not least a pair of Peregrines I spotted from the tram as it passed by the church of Watermael-Boitsfort, where they nest each year, thus taking my 2017 list to 47 species so far.
