I've made very little progress on my year list this month, with Black Stork being the only addition until last week, when I headed to the coast to try a seawatch. Seawatching is not my favourite activity, the ideal conditions of strong north-westerlies usually involving plenty of showers, making it extremely unpleasant. Indeed, the wind was so strong, I could hardly hold my binoculars still, let alone use a telescope, and I saw nothing at all. Thankfully, though, I arrived at the IJzer estuary in Nieuwpoort just at the right time for the receding tide, with plenty of waders feeding on the newly exposed mud. A couple of Little Stints were new for the year and it was fun to watch this Little Egret feeding in the shallows, with its jerky, run and stop technique in stark contrast to the methodical, open-billed, side-to-side sweeping of the Spoonbills. I ended the day in Heist, where a Zitting Cisticola was displaying constantly. This is one of the rarest breeding species in Belgium, with less than ten pairs recently recolonising a few coastal locations after they were wiped out several years ago by some harsh winters in succession. Little signs of autumn migration were also around, with at least three Whinchats plus this nice Wheatear.
BE #214 (Little Stint)
BRU #112
