Crane migration really got underway last week, with a phenomenal 11,399 being counted along the German border in just a few hours on Thursday evening. I thus decided yesterday was a good day to go down to the Ardennes in the hope of intercepting some. Vielsalm station is nestled in a steep-sided river valley which dominates the landscape for miles around and acts as a funnel for migrating birds, so I thought that was my best bet and I wasn't wrong! I already spotted 12 low-flying Cranes from the train as we were pulling into the station and, an hour later, I had counted 1,884 of them, with several of the groups passing directly overhead.
I still hadn't moved more than 100m from the train station, though, so I eventually pulled myself away and went for a walk in the surrounding forest, with a few more, large groups of high-flying cranes taking my day's tally to 2262.
A single Red Kite also joined in the migration and it was strange to see groups of Woodpigeons accompanying the cranes, whilst a group of migrating Fieldfares were doing their own thing. The forest was rather quiet although I did locate a group of around 30 Common Crossbills, some of which were singing, which I don't get to hear very often.
