Exotic Brussels

Earlier this week, I paid another visit to the Pygmy Cormorant, which is still around, and noticed this particularly colourful bush in full bloom.  Ever inquisitive, I found out is a kind of witch-hazel of the genus hamamelis, also known as winterbloom since they generally flower in January or February.  Back in the park adjoining my apartment, I heard a single Alexandrine Parakeet calling and went looking for it only to discover eight of them feeding quietly in a fruiting tree.  I have never seen Alexandrine Parakeets in this area so concluded they must have followed the local Ring-necked Parakeets from their communal roost.  The following day, this theory was backed up by the fact that the Alexandrines had obviously told their friends about the tasty berries on offer as the group had grown to 14.  Yesterday was day three and there were 20 of them; word travels fast in the parakeet world!  Since January has been almost as grey as December, it's nice to have these exotics to brighten up the dreary, mid-winter days a little.

Pygmy in the middle

There are several rarities around in Belgium at the moment, including a long-staying female Desert Wheatear and a horribly elusive Dusky Warbler most people only get to hear, both at the coast, where a Surf Scoter has also been found lurking amongst the offshore flock of 1400+ Common Scoters.  At the opposite end of the country, this lovely, 1st-winter Red-flanked Bluetail has been present since at least 5 January and showing well most days, except, of course, the one day I went to look for it!  That was my only attempt at birding outside of Brussels so far this year and, with the rarities in the far east or west of the country, it was high time something else turned up closer to home.  Sure enough, I discovered on Saturday that a Pygmy Cormorant had just been found in Brussels, pretty much half-way between the coastal rarities and the Bluetail!  This is a mega rarity with only 4 previous records in Belgium.  I was working all weekend but managed to go and see it before work on Sunday, thus making it the 311th species on my Belgian list.  The early-morning light wasn't great for photography but the second picture shows just how diminutive it is thanks to the Common Pochard in the background.

2017 review bis

Contrary to my last review, 2017 was not just about the birds.  I also managed to find six different orchid species in Belgium, including this gorgeous Late Spider Orchid, and added three dragonfly species to my Belgian list (Red-veined Darter, Western Clubtail and Banded Darter).  The main focus of my pre-Amazonian summer months were the butterflies, however.  A concentrated effort to fill some of the gaps in my Belgian butterfly list resulted in me adding 15 species, with a year total of 53 species and an impressive day count of 23 around Han-sur-Lesse in mid-July.
My week long trip to the Alps was also primarily about the butterflies yet additionally yielded six species of orchid and two new dragonflies for me; Lesser Emperor and this Scarce Emerald Damselfly.

The butterflies exceded my expectations, however, with hundreds of my most-wanted species, the Apollo, and a total count of 70 species, a phenomenal 31 of which were lifers!  Many thanks to Mike Bowman and Richard Prior for all their help making this trip such a success.

Dark-green Fritillary

Birdy New Year

December was so wet and windy, the only Belgian birding I did was from my balcony.  Yesterday, we finally had a brief respite so I made the most of the nice morning by spending a few hours at my Brussels patch.  I also wanted to get my 2018 list off to a good start and the first 40 or so species were relatively easy with all the regular species showing well, including this Middle Spotted Woodpecker.

After that, I really wanted to try and reach 50 species so I had another look over the lake from the entrance to the reserve and suddenly noticed a Snipe sitting in front of the reeds!  This is only the second record for the reserve and my first one there and in Brussels a whole, where this species is quite a rarity.  Despite that nice surprise, I was still only on 49 species, so I made a little detour to another park where I knew there should be Great Crested Grebe, which I found straight away.  I then added Hawfinch and Sparrowhawk, taking the day's tally to a very respectable 52 species.