Blue Monday

Today was my last chance to do some Belgian butterflying this year since I'll soon be leaving for Brazil and won't be back until most of them have finished flying.  I thus decided to visit one of my favourite nature reserves at the southernmost extremity of Belgium in the hope of adding Adonis Blue to my Belgian list.  It didn't take long until I found this very co-operative female but I first saw a Green-underside Blue, which is almost as rare and I have only seen once before.  Two rather early Dark-Green Fritillaries were also my first in Belgium and there must have been a dozen or more Pearly Heaths flying around.

This Military Orchid was one of three orchid species I found but perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was a singing Turtle Dove, which I've not heard for several years due to them being hunted to extinction in the Mediterranean.  After a long and very quiet walk through the forest, I emerged into another nature reserve where I finished off by adding a third species, Mazarine Blue, to my Belgian list and even got a fleeting glimpse of a wild cat!

Pearly Heath

The Duke of Burgundy

Last week, I had a day's butterflying in Belgian Luxembourg and found 20 different species including my lifer Duke of Burgundy.  It used to be called Duke of Burgundy Fritillary although it is, in fact, the only European representative of the metalmark family, which are mostly found in tropical South America.  The underside of the wings is very similar to some of our fritillaries but that part of the name got dropped for being scientifically incorrect, although nobody is really sure as to why it was named after the Duke of Burgundy!  I also added another two species to my ever-growing Belgian butterfly list, including the extremely rare Small Blue, and saw both male and female Sooty Copper.  The best experience, though, was sitting in a meadow surrounded by ten or more Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries feeding on flowers which eventually resulted in this wonderful 'open-and-closed' shot.

Fritillary fulfilment

Spurred on by my lifer Western Orphean Warbler and Green-winged Orchid, a couple of days later I had a go at trying to add Glanville Fritillary to my butterfly list.  This is an endangered and scarce butterfly in Belgium with only a handful of isolated populations, one of which is within walking distance of Lommel train station.  As soon as I got to the area, I immediately spotted a pair copulating and I spent the next hour or so surrounded by perhaps a dozen of them, taking plenty of pictures of these beauties.  Getting a photograph with the wings open was difficult, but I persevered, although the underside is actually more distinctive on this species, as it is with most fritillaries.

Warbler workout

Last Sunday, a Western Orphean Warbler was found singing in the province of Namur.  This was a first for Belgium and, although it was a very long way from Brussels, it was a lifer for me so I just had to give it a try!  Early Monday morning, therefore, I set off on the two hour train journey followed by a brisk 1.5 hour walk without even knowing if the bird was still there.  The scenery was wonderful as you can see above and I finally got there around 10:20 am to hear the bird had been singing all morning but had stopped just five minutes before I arrived.  At least it hadn't flown!  I thus started to wait while everyone else gradually left, satisfied with the views they'd had.  Four hours later I was still waiting and there had been no sign of the bird whatsoever when it suddenly popped up into a bush for 1.5 seconds and promptly disappeared again.  Over the next hour, it sang continuously and I got a couple more glimpses of it in flight but never really a satisfactory look at all of the features, although I did get to see its distinctive white eye.  In the meantime, I'd been wandering off and exploring the surroundings, enjoying my first Yellowhammers, Garden Warbler and Red-backed Shrike of the year.  I also photographed this orchid, which I only identified as my first Green-winged Orchid once I got home.

Lord of the dance

I found my first Wood Warbler of the year singing in the Sonian Forest today and, whilst some of our migrant species are only just arriving, various resident species have got a headstart; I also saw a clutch of seven baby Coots, for example.  Even within the same species, certain birds already have young or are on nests, while others are just beginning their courtship rituals.  I visited one lake earlier in the week where this first Great Crested Grebe was sitting on its nest, whilst its neighbours (below) were still busy dancing.