Earlier this month, before my UK trip in fact, I went to visit some of the huge numbers of Black-winged Stilts that have turned up in Belgium, as well as the rest of north-western Europe, this spring. It would seem a drought in Spain has dried up their usual breeding grounds so they moved north in search of wetter areas and, after the exceptionally wet spring we have had, found plenty of flooded fields and other marshy areas to their liking. We would normally get around a dozen or so overshoots each spring but, at the start of May, it was more like 200 or more individuals. They wasted no time and started breeding immediately; this female being one of at least three birds I saw on nests.
I counted at least 31 of them, which is more than the total I have seen in all my years in Belgium, whereas up to 50 have been reported from this one site near Bruges and the first chicks have already hatched. The supporting cast included a Greenshank, several Wood Sandpiper, 4 Ruff still in winter plumage and this splendid pair of Black-necked Grebes in full breeding plumage.
