The first half of April was very wet, especially on my days off, although a male Common Redstart which appeared next to my balcony on my birthday, was not only a nice birthday present but the 76th species for my apartment/balcony list. Apart from a couple of brief walks in Brussels, during which I found a singing Willow Warbler and also saw my first Swallows and House Martins of the year, I'd not done any proper birding trips this month, so I spent the past couple of days at the coast. I had planned to do a migration count this morning but the strong north-easterly wind meant there was little migration and made standing on the exposed sea-dyke unbearable so I only lasted an hour. During that short time, though, I still managed to count almost 400 birds of 20 species going past, three-quarters of them being Linnets and Meadow Pipits in roughly equal numbers. Over the sea, I saw small groups of Shelduck, Avocet and Knot, and five Spoonbills also flew over once I was back down in the polders. Here, Sand Martins joined the migrating Swallows, Meadow Pipits and Linnets, with lots of Whimbrel around, a few Blue-headed Wagtails, and plenty of Sedge Warblers busy singing.
