I had a lovely day at the coast catching up with plenty of recent arrivals this past week. I started at my preferred migration watchpoint near Blankenberge, where a single, male Red-breasted Merganser and one Arctic Tern, both birds I usually struggle to add to my year list, passed offshore. The continued northerly winds meant that there was little songbird migration, however, other than several groups of Linnets, the odd Swallow and a single Wheatear, with a Sparrowhawk also passing along the sea dyke. I thus moved down into the polders which were a real joy to experience since I missed them last spring due to the confinement measures preventing me leaving Brussels. Sedge Warblers were singing everywhere, there were lots of groups of Bar-tailed Godwits, many of which were in summer plumage, and many more Whimbrels than I have seen before, including one flock of around 50!
Other good birds included a flavissima Yellow Wagtail, 6 Greenshank, a pair of Grey Partridge seen really well, and two very different Spotted Redshanks; 1 still in winter plumage and this one about 3/4 of the way through its moult into breeding plumage.
I finished the day at the Spuikom in Ostend, a man-made lake with concrete banks which, until recently, was of little interest to anything other than ducks and grebes. A few years ago, though, they built some shingle islands, which took the birds a couple of years to discover but now hold a bustling and extremely noisy colony of Back-headed Gulls, Common Terns and, this year for the first time, a few pairs of Mediterranean Gulls.
A couple of Bar-tailed Godwits were here too, as well as a Common Sandpiper and a pair of summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebe, taking the very enjoyable day's list to 77 species. I'll be back!
