The first weekend of 2026 brought snow and sub-zero temperatures to most of Belgium, including Brussels, so I had no desire to do my traditional New Year's tour of my patch and planned to stay indoors and catch up on various things instead, not least my blog. I had just published the first part of my 2025 review and was about to prepare lunch, when my phone started going crazy with news of a first for Brussels just 20 minutes away! I got dressed as quickly as I could and rushed out without lunch, trying not to slip over on the snow and ice. There were already a handful of birders at the university campus when I arrived and it didn't take long until I was watching my 7th Hume's Leaf Warbler, a species I first twitched in The Netherlands in 2012 and have seen just five times since (four in Belgium plus one in Israel). Amazingly, this bird was discovered by people looking for the Pallas' Warbler reported the previous day and seen by just one person. The Hume's showed well all weekend long but there was no sign of the Pallas', until Monday evening when someone discovered the Pallas' Warbler's roosting spot, to which it has returned to sleep every day this week, although I've not yet been to see it. Other than that, the only other birding I've done so far this year has been from my balcony plus a return visit to the Brambling roost in Anderlecht. The first bird arrived alone around 16:15 and sat waiting for his friends to arrive. By 5pm, there were around 300 of them, much less than last week, no doubt as a result of the New Year's Eve fireworks, but still lovely to see in the evening sun.
