March-ing on

There has been very little sign of our summer visitors in Brussels so far this month.   The bulk of the Chiffchaffs now seem to have arrived and, this morning, I heard and saw the first Blackcap singing in my local park.  Apart from that, though, the past few weeks have been very quiet, with just a couple of twitches to write about.  The first was a local one within Brussels to this subadult Caspian Gull along the canal.

The second, earlier this week was a quick trip to the coast for the Oriental Turtle Dove, which was discovered last weekend.  It was too distant for photo's but I got to see it well through the telescope.  This is only my second OTD, and my first in Belgium, the first one being a long-staying individual in The Netherlands I only saw very briefly some six years ago.  Having watched it preening for about ten minutes, it didn't look like it was going to be doing much else, so I explored the nearby nature reserve.  It too was quiet but, around 5pm, I witnessed a big exodus of around 1000 White-fronted Geese, with formation after formation passing over on what I presume was the first leg of their northward migration.