This past week has been pretty productive for my year list. Last Monday, I did an evening walk in the Sonian Forest in the hope of finding a roding Woodcock. Whilst I was waiting, I heard a strange snorting sound and looked around to find this Roe Deer staring at me. A fox also made a brief apearance and, after an hour's wait, a Woodcock finally came roding past at 21:40. I only got to see it very briefly but the good thing about displaying Woodcocks is that they usually fly along the same flight path at regular intervals. I thus positioned myself where it had flown and, sure enough, just seven minutes later it reappeared right above my head so that I could even hear the soft croaking sounds in between the much louder, explosive 'pissip' calls. Mission accomplished, therefore, with the added bonus of several calling Tawny Owls on the way home. On Wednesday, I twitched a Pied Flycatcher which was discovered on the edge of Woluwe Park at the end of April and seems to have set up territory. It was still singing constantly when I was there but was difficult to see since it was sticking to the treetops. The ponds nearby held three Common Sandpiper, another year tick, and I then made the most of the early start to visit a few other places, ending up with an excellent day list of 56 species, including the two below.
On Thursday, three more year ticks were reported from St Josse cemetary, so I did another quick twitch hoping to find at least one of them. At first, the cemetary didn't seem to hold much but I soon found a male Wheatear, then another, then yet another plus a female, exceding my expectations since only 3 had been reported. With these still around, there was a good chance the other two species were still there so I was very pleased, although unsurprised, to then locate this dapper, male Whinchat.
The third target took a bit of work but I eventually managed to locate a very brown-looking Ring Ouzel, probably a young male, which was very shy and only showed very briefly. Another walk in the forest over the weekend provided some long overdue House Martins near one of their few Brussels colonies, followed by a Spotted Flycatcher I was very pleased to locate by its faint, buzzy call, thus making a total of nine new species for the year, all in Brussels. Fingers crossed, the restrictions will continue to be relaxed and I'll be able to go elsewehere as of 18 May.
