2021 review

Another challenging year dominated by the global pandemic is almost over so it is time for my traditional review of the past twelve months, starting with my month-by-month birding highlights (lifers in CAPS).

January - Dusky Warbler (Bredene); last year's bird of the year lingered on in its favourite park so I got my year listing off to a good start by paying it a third visit on 2nd.

February - Woodcock (Ostend); a prolonged cold spell brought unprecedented numbers of this species to the coast, where I got a rare opportunity to see them on the ground.

March - Oriental Turtle Dove (Heist); my first real twitch of the year and the first new bird for my Belgian list.

April - FRANKLIN'S GULL (Beveren); a major expedition was required for me to see this American vagrant during its short stay in deepest West Flanders.

May - Griffon Vulture (Brabant Wallon); 24 slowly taking off from their overnight roost.

June - Nightjar (Kalmthout Heath); a long-overdue reacquaintance with the churring goat-milker.

July - Rock Thrush (Alps); a nice male seen exceptionally well on my first evening in the Alps.

August - Zitting Cisticola (Heist); a constantly-displaying bird confirming that the species is slowly recolonising the coast.

September - Nutcracker (Logbiermé); 3 or 4 birds comically struggling their way uphill with their crops full of acorns.

October - Short-eared Owl (Brussels); THE surprise of the year was a migrant seen from my living room!

November - Western Swamphen (Het Vinne); another successful twitch to a first for Belgium.

December - Ross's Gull (Nieuwpoort); another first for Belgium seen really well as it repeatedly passed just above my head.

So, Franklin's Gull was the only new bird I saw this year and is, therefore, my bird of the year for 2021.  It was not the only addition to my lifelist, though, since sorting through my Brazilian photo's for another project led me to review a parrotlet picture I took back in 2011.  At the time, I was told that flavistic individuals were much commoner amongst Blue-winged Parrotlets than the local Dusky-billed Parrotlets.  Since the former species had never been recorded in the area and the local bird-guide told me it wasn't possible, I forgot all about my picture.  Spurred on by several, unconfirmed reports of Blue-winged Parrotlets in exactly the same location over the intervening years, and noticing a second, normal-coloured individual, which also shows the all-important pale upper mandible, I thus sent my picture to some new contacts I didn't know back then, all of whom agree it is the first documented record of Blue-winged Parrotlet (now split into three species) for the Alta Floresta region!

As an antidote to the various travel restrictions, I set myself the dual targets of seeing 250 species in Belgium and 150 within Brussels this year.  I soon realised, though, that the two were incompatible since birding in Brussels meant I was missing good stuff elsewhere, and vice versa.  I thus dropped the Brussels one (which ended up on 116 species) in favour of a Belgian big year.  It was difficult to stay motivated throughout the ongoing pandemic, however, especially once I'd caught up with most of the easy summer migrants, meaning the remaining species all required considerable effort or several attempts to see.  Despite falling just short, at 240 species, this is still my biggest Belgian year so far and the additional effort resulted in seven new species for my all-time Belgian list (Oriental Turtle Dove, Franklin's Gull, Sooty Shearwater, Rustic Bunting, Guillemot, Western Swamphen and Ross's Gull), which now stands at a respectable 325 species.  I left Belgium on just four occasions this year, all very brief, adding Hooded Crow (Berlin), plus 7 species in the Alps (Short-toed Eagle, Hoopoe, Crag Martin, Rock Thrush, Rock Bunting, Western Bonelli's Warbler and Italian Sparrow), and thus taking my overall year-list to 248 species.  With all my focus on finding new birds, the butterflies and odonata took a back seat this year and I didn't see any new species of either in Belgium, although my butterflying break in the Alps was very successful, with a total of 26 new species out of 61 identified in just two full days there. 

I do not plan another big year attempt for 2022 and am looking forward to some more relaxed birding, regularly visting my Brussels patch and finding my own birds rather than constantly chasing after other people's.  
Stay safe, healthy and make the most of what nature has to offer in 2022.

Velvet curtain

It's been five years since I last saw a Velvet Scoter, which is a very scarce winter visitor to Belgium, so Xmas Day saw me taking the train to an appropriately-named station in East Flanders to twitch two of them on a nearby lake.

They were easy to find, with a distant Red-necked Grebe as an added bonus, plus a male Black Redstart at Ghent station as a nice, unseasonal Xmas present.  Since I'm working the rest of the week and won't have time for any more twitches, the curtain thus draws on my big Belgian year with 240 species under my belt.  I had hoped for 250 but some terrible weather combined with a stubborn cold during my time off earlier this month put paid to that!

BE #240 (Velvet Scoter)

BRU #116

Glossy Xmas

Yesterday I walked 18km from Diksmuide to Nieuwpoort just to see these three Glossy Ibis, which are frequenting a nature reserve roughly half-way between the two.  It seemed to be a pair with their youngster (the middle bird) and are part of a strange, mid-winter influx of this species at the moment, with lots of them turning up in the UK.  The area was really good, containing lots of White-fronted plus a few Pink-footed Geese, as well as Marsh Harrier, Grey Partridge, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Fieldfare, Redwing and a hunting Sparrowhawk.  Best of all, though, was the Long-eared Owl roost I discovered along the bank of the river IJzer, with at least eight owls present.  This was a big surprise and only about an hour's walk from Diksmuide, so it's great to have another owl roost I can take people to.  

BE #239 (Glossy Ibis)

BRU #116

Alpine advent Day 24

And finally, Great Banded Grayling/Kanetisa circe was quite common but I had to place a dead one on a rock with its wings open in order to get a picture of the upperside.

The two new species I saw but didn't manage to photograph were Clouded Apollo and Moorland Clouded Yellow, so here's hoping I can get back to Modane next summer for those and more!  Happy holidays.

Alpine advent Day 23

This, on the other hand, seems to be Swiss Grayling/Hipparchia genava.  It is slightly smaller, although that is only useful when seeing the two side-by-side, and tends to prefer more open, rocky habitats.  Notice how the brown-white border seems to be more of a diagonal line with a central brown triangle protruding into the white band.  Also, the brown on the forewing tapers to a much more elongated point below the ocellus than the previous species.

Alpine advent Day 22

The next species pair can only really be identified by studying their sexual organs under a microscope, although there are some consistent differences in the wing pattern which help point in the right direction.  This, therefore, is probably Woodland Grayling/Hipparchia fagi, based primarily on size, habitat and the fairly evenly curved border between the dark-brown and the whitish band on the hindwing.

Alpine advent Day 21

Great Sooty Satyrs/Satyrus ferula were everywhere but it took me a long time to get the hang of them due to their strong sexual dimorphism.  Here, first, is the underside of a male followed by the upperside of a female, the opposite views already having appeared in my trip write-up.

Alpine advent Day 20

The last, and largest, of the four, new species of erebia I manged to identify was Piedmont Ringlet/Erebia meolans, which I only saw around 1900m.

Alpine advent Day 19

Lesser Mountain Ringlet/Erebia melampus is just as small and rather similar, except the orange band is less solid and it also has orange spots on the underwing.

Ross-mania

No, there's not been a sudden, unexpected revival of the tv-series Friends, but Belgium's birders are currently being entertained by not one but two Ross's Gulls, a high-Arctic species which was not even on the Belgian list until 1 December, when the first bird was photographed by a single observer in Nieuwpoort.  This bird was then relocated just over the border in France, where it attracted a steady stream of admirers, but then the unthinkable happened and a second individual was found roosting amongst the Black-headed Gulls within the harbour of Zeebrugge.  The first bird has since returned to where it was originally discovered, meaning the really keen (and those willing to trespass to see the second bird) can actually see two different Ross's Gulls in Belgium on the same day!  My first chance to see the original bird in Nieuwpoort was yesterday and I got to the pier to see it happily wheeling around and briefly landing on the water right in front of me.  It did this non-stop for the next hour, repeatedly passing just above my head, and it even called once as it was right above me.  It didn't stop for more than the briefest of moments on the water and was flying so fast it reminded me of a hummingbird.  Trying to get any sort of picture was a challenge, therefore, but they at least prove I saw the bird.

Thankfully, the Guillemots in Ostend harbour were a bit more co-operative.

This was one of three birds present there and I also saw a Razorbill in Nieuwpoort so, while it was great to see both species on the same day, it is a little worrying that it may be due to food shortages out to sea pushing them further inshore to find food.  There have plenty of dead and dying auks found all along the coast so far this winter so something is definitely not right.

BE #238 (ROSS'S GULL, Red-throated Diver, Eider)

BRU #116

Alpine advent Day 18

Considerably smaller is the Mountain Ringlet/Erebia epiphron, here the subspecies aetheria, which has tiny ocelli and a plain underwing.

Alpine advent Day 17

The erebias are a truly alpine genus.  Only two species just about reach the very south and east of Belgium, where they are both scarce, whereas almost twenty species can be found in the area I visited.  They are all dark brown with varying amounts of orange and ocelli, with considerable subspecific and individual variation making their identification a nightmare.  The very first one I saw landed on my shoe and I only got a shot of the underside so I needed some expert help to id it as Large Ringlet/Erebia euryale.  I was happy, therefore, to later find another one with its wings open.

Alpine advent Day 16

This is the only photo I took of what I think is Dusky Meadow Brown/Hyponephele lycaon, although I'm still waiting for my id to be confirmed.

Alpine advent Day 15

Northern Wall Brown/Lasiommata petropolitana is virtually identical to the more widespread Large Wall Brown except for a distinctive, dark brown line across the upper hindwing, visible in the second picture.

Alpine advent Day 14

Knapweed Fritillary/Melitaea phoebe was less numerous and I only managed to identify a couple of them.

Alpine advent Day 13

I saw ten species of fritillary in the Alps but only two of them were new for me.  Titania's Fritillary/Boloria titania seemed to be quite common around 1900m.

Alpine advent Day 12

Of the six new species of blue I recorded, I was most pleased to find this Meleager's Blue/Meleageria daphnis, with its rather distinctive wing shape (females are even more irregular).

Alpine advent Day 11

This one immediately struck me as being a different shade of blue to all the others and, despite getting just the one photo, I think it is probably Turquoise Blue/Plebicula dorylas.

Alpine advent Day 10

Geranium Argus/Eumedonia eumedon is one of several blues which aren't actually blue.  This is probably a female due to the orange lunules on the upper hindwing, posing together with day 3's Dusky Grizzled Skipper.

Alpine advent Day 9

The Cranberry Blue/Vacciniina optilete picture already posted, could really have been anything since the distinguishing feature wasn't visible.  This blurry photo allowed me to make the id, however, since it clearly shows the single orange spot on the hindwing.

Alpine advent Day 8

The three Plebejus species are also notoriously difficult to tell apart but I believe this one to be Reverdin's Blue/Plebejus argyrognomon.

UPDATE - Jan2022: This has since been re-identified as the extremely variable Idas Blue/Plebejus idas, which is not a lifer, unfortunately.  Reverdin's is only supposed to be at lower altitudes whereas these were taken at 1900m.

Alpine advent Day 7

On to the bewildering blues, then.  With so many potential species in the area, I just had to get as many pictures as possible and hope to identify them once I got home.  Osiris Blue/Cupido osiris is very similar to Small Blue except for the dull blue upperside of the males (Small Blue males and females are both brown).

Alpine advent Day 6

Purple-shot Copper/Lycaena alciphron, on the other hand, was one of the first new butterflies I identified and this, a female, was the only one I got to see.

Alpine advent Day 5

Next up are the Lycaenidae, which include the Coppers and Blues.  I already featured a Scarce Copper/Lycaena virgaureae in my trip write-up, since it was the last new species I found right at the end of my second day.  I then saw several individuals, though, so here are some more shots of this stunner.

Alpine advent Day 4

Last but by no means least, this is Large Grizzled Skipper/Pyrgus alveus, the largest and commonest of the grizzled skippers I managed to identify, although there were undoubtedly some other species which got away.

Alpine advent Day 3

The overall more subdued colouration and missing = sign of yesterday's species make this one a Dusky Grizzled Skipper/Pyrgus cacaliae, I think!

Alpine advent Day 2

Moving on to the grizzled skippers, of which there are so many similar species they are even more difficult to identify than the rest of their family, I believe this to be Alpine Grizzled Skipper/Pyrgus andromedae due to the faint yet distinctive = sign on the inner forewing, as highlighted in the second picture.

Alpine advent Day 1

If you've been following my blog this year, you'll know my only trip outside of Belgium, other than city trips to Berlin and Cologne, was a very short break in Modane looking for butterflies.  Despite only having two full days there, I ended up identifying 61 species, 26 of which were new for me.  Of those, I managed to get pictures of 24, which is the perfect number for an alpine butterfly advent calendar, featuring each of the new species I photographed.

Starting with the skippers, therefore, which are terribly difficult to identify, so much so that shots of both the upper- and underside are really required to be able to id them confidently.  This is the one and only Marbled Skipper/Carcharodus levatharae I saw.

Grinding halt

My big Belgian year has come to a grinding halt since my last post as I have only managed to add one new species.  It was a good one, though, when some targeted research revealed an abandoned fort in the province of Antwerp to be a breeding site for Barn Owl, a species I've only seen twice before in Belgium, and one of those times it was just the briefest of glimpses.  I arrived at the fort entrance before sunset and waited, with the bird finally appearing at the entrance to its daytime roost after about an hour and thus well after dark, before stretching a little and flying silently off over the fort walls.  I also guided a group around my Brussels patch, with everyone getting to see a Kingfisher in flight as well as admiring the two male Red-crested Pochards present.  Other than though, my only birding has been watching Nuthatches or Great Spotted Woodpeckers from my flat/balcony, not that I'm complaining when you can get views like this without leaving home.

BE #235 (Barn Owl)

BRU #116

Win some, lose some

November got off to a great start with Belgium's first-ever Western Swamphen being found in Het Vinne nature reserve on the last day of October.  I successfully twitched it two days later, its rich indigo plumage really popping out of the reedbed on a typically grey November day, although it was too far for me to get any kind of decent photo.  I then had a long day at the coast, which, any other year, I would have considered a good day, observing 66 species in total, including 3 dark-bellied Brent Geese, all three egrets (again), two Water Rail feeding out in the open, and a Siberian Chiffchaff.  In the final stretch of my big Belgian year and under pressure to find an average of at least two new species per week, however, the day felt like it was going to be a failure until I finally managed to locate my target species right at the end of the afternoon when I noticed a group of around 100 Pink-footed Geese resting quietly in a distant field.  Another trip to the Dutch/Belgian border also saw me adding Tundra Bean Goose to my Belgian year list; the birds were perhaps 10 metres inside Belgium although I could only see them by standing in The Netherlands!  After that, though, my luck seems to have run out and this past weekend was especially frustrating thanks to a pesky Phylloscopus.  A Pallas's Warbler had not moved from the same tree at the coast for two days so, on Saturday, I decided to give it a try, but arrived at the station to find engineering works on the line meant the train was replaced by a bus service which would take twice as long.  I turned round and headed home, therefore, only to discover another Pallas's Warbler had been found in Brussels of all places!  I was soon on my way to this one and arrived just five minutes after these photo's were taken, but it was only seen again very briefly by one observer despite several of us searching in the rain for over two hours.

BE #234 (Western Swamphen, Pink-footed Goose, Tundra Bean Goose)

BRU #116

19 to go!

After the very slow months of August and September, I thought my big Belgian year target of 250 species was probably out of reach but the successful stormy day earlier this month has put me more or less back on track.  Indeed, last week saw me back at the coast again during another storm which produced both Arctic Skua and Guillemot.  Yesterday saw me heading down to Belgian Luxembourg, involving a four-hour round trip, just to add Tree Sparrow to my year list.  This species seems to be disappearing fast from Belgium and is now very hard to find so I went to one of my most reliable sites.  I only managed to see one of them and not very well at that, unlike the above bird photographed some years ago in Yorkshire, but it's another step closer to 250.  Redwings were absolutely everywhere, with good numbers of Fieldfares, and groups of Skylarks seemed to be passing overhead all day long.

BE #231 (Arctic Skua, Guillemot, Tree Sparrow)

BRU #116

The floodgates have opened!

Last Friday, 15th October, I had the first migrating Redwing of the autumn from my balcony, which got me thinking how late everything seems to be this year, especially compared to the madness of 13th October last year.  Saturday morning, I thus went out on my balcony again and, this time, it was Song Thrushes which seemed to be everywhere.  I didn't see huge numbers of birds but the species going over included Song Thrush, Redwing, Starling, Skylark, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch, Brambling, Siskin and 4 Greylag Geese.  By 10:30am, things seemed to have quietened down, so I came inside to have some breakfast and warm up, whilst still looking out of the window.  At 10:45, however, I spotted something large and brown descending into the park and I instantly recognised it although my head told me it just wasn't possible and had me searching for other ideas of what it could be.  Sure enough, though, I just got the binoculars on it in time to confirm my first Short-eared Owl in the whole of Brussels, let alone for my flatlist.  It seemed to be looking for somewhere to roost, harassed by two Carrion Crows, and soon disappeared behind the trees, leaving me gobsmacked.  I decided not to go into the park to try and find it since I didn't want to risk flushing it so soon after it had arrived to rest, especially with the limited hiding places in such a busy park  Instead, I went for a walk in the Sonian Forest, hoping some other good birds had turned up but all I found was this magnificent caterpillar.

I'd never seen anything quite like it but then saw a second one during my walk and a friend (thanks, Marcel), soon identified it as a Pale Tussock moth (Calliteara pudibunda), in the family Erebidae, which is well-known for its hairy and elaborately ornamented caterpillars.

The past two days have not been quite as busy migration-wise but there is still lots on the move.  This morning, having already tallied several Skylarks, a group of around ten Coal Tits, and a Sparrowhawk, I got to watch some interesting interaction when a female Chaffinch, which had become isolated from her group, landed in the tree next to my balcony and started calling like mad, presumably looking for some new friends.  Suddenly, a female Brambling dropped out of the sky and sat next to her for a few minutes, both of them calling non-stop, until they took off together on the next leg of their journey.  Farewell, my fringillid friends.

BE #228

BRU #116 (Skylark, Greylag Goose, SHORT-EARED OWL!)

Storming on

I made three separate trips to the coast this past week.  The first was last Wednesday, when a storm seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally add Gannet to my year list.  Conditions were unpleasant to say the least since I had to crouch down behind a wall to get out of the wind, with sea spray from the waves breaking over me every so often, but I did get to see plenty of juvenile Gannets.  Interestingly, I didn't see a single adult go past, as if they know better than to get caught up in a storm.  The strong winds also pushed a single Razorbill, a couple of Kittiwakes and a group of Common Scoter my way but the biggest surprise were a couple of dark birds wheeling over the waves in typical shearwater-fashion.  They were far out but I got good enough views to confirm the underside was completely dark and even glimpse the whitish underwing coverts of one bird so I was pretty confident I'd just seen my first Sooty Shearwaters in Belgium.  Sure enough, this was a big day for this species, with a friend stationed further down the coast tallying 27 of them during the course of the day, and my two birds also being reported by other observers at various locations along the coast.

Two days later, I was back at the coast again trying to find Yellow-browed Warblers since my Brussels bird of the past two autumns hasn't returned (and I've been checking the park almost every day!).  I did hear two calling but, frustratingly, was unable to locate either of them.  The bushes were absolutely alive with Song Thrushes, however, flying out in all directions, and I was just thinking that so many thrushes having arrived meant there just had to be something else, when a Barred Warbler popped up in a bush ahead of me!  I only got brief views before it disappeared and no-one else saw the bird at all, but it was enough to rule out a late Garden Warbler, so I was very pleased with only my second (and first self-found) Barred Warbler in Belgium, in exactly the same location as my first.  As if that wasn't good enough, I then went on to get a fantastic view of a Wryneck, a species I'd pretty much given up on finding this year since it is getting extremely late for them.

After two visits in three days, I had no intention of returning to the coast over the weekend but then someone went and found a first-winter Rustic Bunting on Saturday which was showing extremely well all day and again on Sunday.  After the successes of the past week, I just had to give it a try, therefore, especially seeing it too was new for my Belgian list, having only ever seen them on their breeding grounds in Lapland.  I soon located the crowd of people (111 people reported it on Sunday) surrounding the bird as it crept mouse-like through the marram grass feeding.  At first, it was difficult to see well but it eventually flew up into a tree and started preening for all to admire.

BE #228 (Gannet, Razorbill, Kittiwake, Common Scoter, Sooty Shearwater, Yellow-browed Warbler, Barred Warbler, Wryneck, Bearded Tit, Rustic Bunting)

BRU #113 (Cetti's Warbler)

Berlin beans

I was back in Berlin for another city trip last weekend but made a visit to Moorlinse Buch, north-east of the city, at the recommendation of a fellow birder.  At first, and despite being on the outskirts of the city, almost on the border with Brandenburg, it seemed like any old city park with just a few Greylag Geese, Coots and grebes present.  There was a lot of songbird migration, however, with a constant stream of Chaffinches, accompanied by numerous Siskins, at least one Brambling, a Woodlark and even two Bearded Tits.  It soon became clear, though, that it wasn't only songbirds which were on the move, as a flight of 180 Greylags arrived a little after 9am.

The 09:05 flight from Scandinavia!

More and more mixed groups of geese continued to arrive all morning so that, by the time I left a couple of hours later, the 30-strong flock of Greylags had grown to around 600, together with 60+ Tundra Bean Geese and 20-30 White-fronted Geese.  The Bean Geese were especially nice to watch since I rarely get to see them well in Belgium, with one bird in particular having me in fits of laughter as its attempts at preening its tail feathers ended up with it spinning round and round on the water like a dog chasing its tail!

A passing Crane even came to check out all the commotion of the arriving geese before deciding that was not the kind of company it wanted to keep and flying on.