Earlier this month, I guided a small group in the Ardennes. The excessive rainfall of the preceding weeks meant we failed to find Dipper and we didn't have any luck with Nutcrackers either but, just like my guided tour in
May, we got to see an eagle instead! We had climbed up the observation tower near Trois-Ponts and were admiring the aerial antics of a couple of Ravens when an immature Short-toed Eagle came down the valley and passed the tower at eye level. This is only my second Short-toed Eagle in Belgium, the first being fifteen years ago.
Other than that, a brief visit to the Hautes-Fagnes once again failing to find my nemesis Belgian butterfly, Cranberry Fritillary, did provide some other species. I was admiring this beautifully fresh Small Copper (I've never seen one with such pronounced lilac spots) when a Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary obligingly landed on the same patch of thistles!
