Patchy birding

It has been horribly grey and wet since I last wrote so I've not done much birding and have only added another 6 species to my 2021 year list, which now stands at 112.  A long walk criss-crossing Kalmthout Heath failed to produce the overwintering Great Grey Shrike, which seems to have relocated elsewhere, but did give me my first Water Pipits in Belgium since 2014.  I also visited my old patch of Mechels Broek, on the outskirts of Mechelen, for a winter-plumaged Red-necked Grebe.  This is the closest site to Brussels with a good range of habitats and, consequently, a nice variety of species, but I've not been there very often the past few years, as some bad management and lots of disturbance seem to have reduced its attraction to birds.  There were lots around, though, as you can see, with good numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Lapwing, Barnacle Goose and White-fronted Goose, an irregular species this far inland.  Finally, an unsucessful twitch to the male Baikal Teal in the Dijle valley did provide my first Willow Tits of the year. Willow Tit seems to be extinct in Brussels so the area south of Leuven is probably our closest reliable spot for them.

Golden wonders

I've only managed to add another three species to my year list this past week; a Little Owl and Reed Bunting on the edge of Brussels, plus this distant Smew on a lake in West Flanders.  Smew is yet another species which seems to be reaching Belgium in ever-decreasing numbers, with males being considerably rarer here than immatures/females.  The last time I got to see an adult male in Belgium was way back in 2010! 
Yesterday, temperatures remained below freezing and heavy snow was expected all afternoon so I'd decided to stay indoors, until I noticed a report of two Goldeneye on my Brussels patch, that is.  The Belgian website used to report sightings gets a lot of crap reported and has far too little verification to get rid of the rubbish.  I'd never seen Goldeneye on my patch before, though, the one and only sighting being some 20 years ago, so I couldn't risk not giving them a try, even though I was convinced I was sending myself on a wild duck chase.  I headed out immediately and, lo and behold, arrived to find two beautiful, male Goldeneye constantly diving.

It was by no means easy getting a picture with both of them above water in order to prove there were indeed two, but I eventually succeeded.  I then headed home, seeing a Firecrest on the way, and got home just before the snow started to fall.  Others searched in vain for them this morning, so I was really glad of my quick decision, with Goldeneye thus becoming the 110th species I've seen on my Brussels patch in the 20 or so years I've been going there.

0 to 100 in nine days

This past week has mostly been grey and wet so I had only managed to add a handful of species to my 2021 list, including this Middle Spotted Woodpecker (as difficult as always to photograph) and a rare-for-Brussels Shelduck.  Yesterday, however, was a beautiful, sunny but frosty day so I headed back to the coast to try the polders.  First, though, I made another visit to the Spuikom in Ostend, where I easily saw the Long-tailed Duck I missed last weekend.  The polders were disappointing for geese as I only managed to find Barnacle and White-fronted, but I had a great day nevertheless.

Pintails are such elegant ducks and occur regularly but mainly in small numbers in Belgium so it is always a treat to see them, especially the chocolate-headed drakes.  Other good additions to my year-list included Wigeon, 40+ Ruff, 70+ Golden Plover, a Bittern in flight, a second-winter male Hen Harrier and my first Zitting Cisticola in Belgium since 2008!  This species used to breed along the coast until a series of cold winters around ten years ago wiped them out and they have been slowly returning to their former areas ever since, the mild winters of the past few years accelerating things a little.  Best of all, though, were the owls.  The polders are the best place in Belgium to see Short-eared Owls, and there was a huge crowd assembled to watch and photograph them, with the first bird out hunting early, well before 4pm.  I also finally got to see the Long-eared Owl roost behind the visitor centre, counting six birds, one of which was enjoying the sun.

The roost requires quite a detour from the route I normally take so I'd never managed to see it before, especially since I used to have a much more accessible roost closer to Brussels which has long since disappeared as a result of disturbance.  A charm of around a dozen Goldfinches were my final new bird for the year of the day, taking my list to 103 species so far, which is by far the earliest I've reached the 100-species mark.

It's snowing!

Day 2 of 2021 took me to the coast where, rather than going for a big list of regular species, I decided to twitch some rarities I might not get another chance of seeing this year.  I thus started with my old friend Bruno, the Dusky Warbler, in Bredene.  He was unusually quiet and so it took me almost an hour to find him but he eventually showed himself to chastise a Chiffchaff which had encroached upon his patch of reeds.  A male Blackcap was also there so this little park obviously has some special attraction for overwintering warblers.  Next up was the ridiculously confiding Grey Phalarope right next to the walkway around the Spuikom in Ostend.

You can even see its lobed toes and webbed foot in the second picture.  I also saw a Slavonian Grebe here but the long-staying Long-tailed Duck I saw in December somehow managed to elude me this time.  I then moved on to the immature Black-throated Diver in the harbour area before relocating to the beach north of Bredene, where it suddenly started snowing.  Not snowflakes of course since it was far too mild but a group of eleven Snow Buntings which appeared out of nowhere as I was watching the assembled Sanderlings and Turnstones feeding on the beach.

More and more Sanderlings kept appearing to join the roost and I counted at least 114 of them, with over 160 Oystercatchers in Ostend.  Other good birds I saw during the day included a first-winter Caspian Gull and a Purple Sandpiper, taking my year list to 76 species after just two days.

Action!

I've had a birdy start to the year kicking off my 2021 list.  On New Year's Day, I did a three-and-a-half hour walk within Brussels, starting at my Brussels patch.  Here, this Great Spotted Woodpecker had discovered the bird feeders and flew towards me as I was trying to photograph it, making for this nice action shot.  I also saw two Kingfishers and our long-staying Ferruginous Duck, before crossing the forest towards Boitsfort.  The forest was very busy but I heard a Black Woodpecker calling and then saw it in flight - a great bird to start the year.  The Etang de Boitsfort had two Water Rails feeding out in the open, and some Hawfinches in the nearby park took the day's and year's total to 53 species.