Little things

I've been out of Belgium for a while but will write about that later.  Before I left, though, I did a short walk in the Sonian forest, finally locating the top-secret location of the only colony of Fire Salamanders in the Brussels Region!  It was very quiet birdwise, allowing me to notice some little things I would normally walk past, such as this tiny, metallic green weevil.  There was also a Wren which was really showing off, so I decided to take a few photos and was very pleased with the result.

Wintry surprise

My Viennese trip also provided my first dragonflies of the year, including a couple of species I'd only ever seen once or twice before, so I made a point of paying more attention to them once I got back to Belgium.  A visit to my Brussels patch got me this nice image of a male Scarce Chaser, a species which is no longer scarce here having rapidly colonised Brussels over the past five to ten years.  I then noticed a damselfly and managed to take just one picture but it turned out to be my lifer Winter Damselfly!  This species is quite widespread but far from numerous and notoriously difficult to identify since its drab colouration makes it easy to confuse with teneral individuals of the much commoner species.  As a result, it was the commonest Belgian odonate I'd not yet seen, so I was pleased to fill that hole in my list without trying, especially since I've made a few, concentrated attempts to look for it in the past.

Hawfy New Year!

Today, I finally made it to my Brussels patch of Rouge-Cloître/Roodklooster for the first time this year.  It started really well, with a Goshawk perched near the entrance being mobbed by several Magpies plus a Carrion Crow, which, at one point, divebombed it and yanked its tail!  I got several of the scarce species I hope to see there at this time of year, including Goldcrest, Firecrest and 3 Teal but the pièce de résistance were Hawfinches.  I'd already spotted one amongst a small flock of Greenfinches and was walking along the tree-lined path near the allotments when this one flew up from the ground.  I fumbled for my camera and managed to get this first shot but, after a while, it returned to the path to feed, showing ridiculously well for such a shy and secretive species.  I ended up with 41 species around the reserve, plus a Peregrine seen from the tram on my way there.

Snowy start

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.

Birding by instinct

Last Thursday, I had a feeling the conditions would be good for stork migration and tried watching from my balcony in the hope of connecting with some.  After an hour of seeing nothing whatsoever, I had given up and was getting ready to have a shower when a report came through of a flock of storks on the north-western edge of Brussels, heading in my direction.  Half-dressed, I rushed back out and spent the next fifteen minutes frantically scanning the sky and wondering why I couldn't see them until I finally spotted them.  They were moving quickly, however, and soon disappeared behind the trees but I reckon the flock contained around 150 White Storks, with a Marsh Harrier following behind!  Yesterday, I went out onto my balcony to hear a sharp call that just didn't sound right for a Robin and made me think of Spotted Flycatcher, although that was highly unlikely since I've only seen it from my balcony once before.  I then saw a greyish bird flit between the trees and managed to spot where it landed through a gap in the foliage.

New autumn's resolution

Autumn migration is well underway with a Hoopoe on my Brussels patch, in exactly the same place as the last one in September 2022, and a female Woodchat Shrike on a nature reserve in Vlaams-Brabant.  This species was new for my Belgian list so I went to look for it yesterday and found it easily, although it was very far away making it impossible to photograph.  A pair of Migrant Hawkers in Brussels, on the other hand, were too busy copulating to worry about me, allowing me to get this nice image.

Since migration is kicking off and lots of good things seems to be turning up, I decided to make a resolution to do a quick tour of my local park every day that my work schedule allows.  During my first visit this week, there had obviously been a minor fall, with several calling Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps plus a nice little surprise in the form of a singing Firecrest, which I've only seen once before as early as August.

Roodkindergarten

My Brussels patch of Roodklooster/Rouge-Cloître has once again become one big, open-air crèche for this year's offspring.  This female Tufted Duck was accompanied by no less than 9 chocolate fluffballs and a female Pochard, another scarce breeder in Brussels, had three ducklings.  An adult Great Crested Grebe was carrying three very young chicks on its back but I also saw a much older youngster on another pond, meaning at least two pairs have bred.  Other species whose offspring I saw included Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Reed Warbler and Grey Wagtail, while the mixed species flock of young tits also contained a juvenile Blackcap or two.  The first bird I saw upon my arrival, however, was a fledgling Green Woodpecker which must have just left the nest since it was still learning to fly and looking very clumsy.

Photo-birding

Over the weekend, I took part in the first-ever Brussels edition of iNaturalist's City Nature Challenge.  The idea is to make as many documented observations of plants and animals as possible and Brussels is the only city in Belgium participating this year.  I decided to do my regular route around my Brussels patch but it was quite a challenge switching from my usual routine of trying to see things to trying to photograph them all, with common but skulky species such as Wren taking up much more time than I would usually spend on them.  In the end, I managed to photograph 38 species (31 birds, 3 butterflies, 2 mammals, 1 plant and 1 snail), including my first Swifts of the year which appeared over my balcony on Sunday morning.

Back to business

I finally managed to get back to my Brussels patch this morning, finding the first Blackcap of the year for the reserve as well as a Long-tailed Tit nest!  Butterflies were on the wing and I saw at least four species; Brimstone, Small White, Peacock plus this Red Admiral.

Tracking a familiar call in the forest, I managed to locate a Middle Spotted Woodpecker, while this Water Rail was sitting in an opening in the reeds and preening itself, allowing for unusually prolonged views of this super secretive skulker.

King of the cloister

Health issues have prevented me from doing anything other than birding from my balcony since I went to Texel so I thought I'd write a short post introducing my Brussels patch. 
Roodklooster/Rouge-Cloître is a former abbey with several lakes and ponds bordering the Sonian Forest on the south-eastern edge of Brussels.  As a result, it has a nice mixture of water and woodland birds with my regular visits there usually providing around 40 species, depending on the time of year.  My day record currently stands at 56 species seen/heard on 29 October 2022.  I am also the observer with the most bird species recorded within the reserve as shown on bru.waarnemingen, the local equivalent of eBird.  This list, however, excludes exotics plus a flew species I have recorded from within the reserve but which were just outside the boundaries, so my actual list totals 118 species, the latest addition being European Stonechat from last October.  I first visited it in May 1999, getting to see a pair of displaying Black Woodpeckers chasing each other around a tree-trunk in the nearby forest, something that I've never been lucky enough to see again in the 26 years I've been going there!  Most years, I start the year with a resolution to visit once a month, but other things get in the way and it ends up being considerably less, focussing especially on the spring and autumn migration periods.  Nevertheless, it is usually the first place I go at the start of each year to get my year list off to a decent start, with this year's January visit getting me 39 species, including a drumming Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a Cetti's Warbler, which is a recent arrival and still extremely rare in Brussels.  Finally, it is on one of the main approach routes to Brussels airport, so there is a good chance you'll see it from the air if you are flying into Brussels.

Where's Widgy?

Earlier this week, I twitched this immature male Wigeon which has turned up in a Brussels park.  He was hanging out with the Gadwalls and following their lead by munching pondweed, which in itself is quite unusual since I've only ever seen Wigeon feeding on grass before.  This is only the second time I've seen Wigeon in Brussels, the last being a group of three way back in November 2010!

Nocturne

I've had some good owl karma this year, seeing both Tawny Owl and Long-eared Owl in January, a hunting Short-eared Owl in March and two new species during my US trip in April.  Two weekends ago, I tried an evening walk in the Sonian Forest and, although I heard at least three Tawny Owls, I was unable to locate any.  A visiting birder had mentioned Tawny Owl was on his target list, so I suggested we give it a try last weekend, confident we should at least hear them but not really expecting to see one.  We started much too early, however, and it took almost 90 minutes before we heard anything, but then we were suddenly surrounded by begging calls.  After a good amount of searching, I finally found a recently fledged Tawny Owl sitting in a sapling at eye level, with a myriad of dancing fireflies making the observation even more magical.  The Little Owls of Brussels, on the other hand, are not co-operating and have been hiding every time I have tried to see them so far this year, although I did find this Little Grebe sitting on an unusually exposed nest.

Feather forecast

Having seen my first singing Chiffchaff of the year on 4 March, I texted a friend to say it would probably be 10 days until they reached Brussels. 
Sure enough, the first one was singing in my local park on 14 March, after I had checked it and found none the previous day.  There were at least ten singing on my Brussels patch, which also confirmed a mass arrival during the night of 13-14 March.  This handsome Grey Wagtail was coming into breeding plumage, Kingfishers were busy displaying, and I found three species of butterfly, including the first Small White of the year for the Brussels region.  I predict scattered showers of singing Blackcaps any day now!

Big weekend

Great Bittern by Phil Gunson

I had a big birding weekend this past weekend, starting on Friday with a quick visit to the female Ferruginous Duck which has returned to the canal in Anderlecht every winter since 2013.  On Saturday, I guided a visiting birder to a lake in West Flanders, finding him three lifers - Bittern, Smew and Long-eared Owl.  The Bittern was showing exceptionally well right in front of the hide, as you can see, and seemed to be blowing bubbles in the water to attract fish.  This is not a behaviour I have heard about before but it seemed to be working since we witnessed it catching a young perch.

Long-eared Owl by Phil Gunson

Sunday was my annual wild goose chase around Zeeland with my Dutch birding friends.  The Brouwersdam was unusually quiet, apart from lots of Red-breasted Mergansers and a single Razorbill, although we did spot a 1000-strong flock of Brent Geese on the way.  We then moved to the location of last year's 3000+ Barnacle Geese, which were back in exactly the same spot.  This time, however, they were concealing several other species - one Tundra Bean Goose, at least two Cackling Geese, a presumed escape Ross's Goose, plus a Red-breasted Goose I only saw very briefly before the whole flock took flight and we lost it again.  By the end of the weekend, I had seen or heard a total of 95 species!

Barnacle Geese by Theo Hortensius

Yellow-browed buses

Birds are often likened to buses, since you can go for years without seeing something or without a particular species turning up somewhere, until suddenly two or more come along in quick succession.  A week yesterday, the first Brussels Yellow-browed Warbler since 2020 was found at a small nature reserve in the north of the city.  I was there the following afternoon and heard it call it after only half an hour of searching, but it then took me another 45 frustrating minutes to finally see it.  When it did reveal itself, I got excellent views, but it was too quick and far to get any pictures.

The same winds that had brought the Yellow-browed Warbler to Brussels, had also deposited a mega-rare Yellow-browed Bunting on the Dutch island of Vlieland, and half of birding Holland had seen and photographed it by the end of the weekend.  Now, Monday and Tuesday were my days off, I have never seen a YbB and I had never been to Vlieland, so off I went!  I had worked out I could just make it to the island with an hour or so of daylight left if I left home at 6am, but a broken catenary put paid to that plan and it ended up taking me 15 hours to get there, having been evacuated from my stranded train after three hours and then missing my ferry as result.  The unbearable four-hour wait in Harlingen for the next ferry was made a little better by a group of Knot and big flock of Wigeon, as well as the wonderful sight of a Little Grebe feeding under the tail of the harbour's whale sculpture, but I finally arrived on the island in the dark, exhausted and rather dejected, wondering if I'd come all that way for nothing.  The bird had been showing well all day, however, and, miracle of miracles, it was raining by the time I got there, meaning the bunting was unlikely to move on overnight.  I was up before first light and headed towards the area but, with no-one else around so early, I ended up walking much too far, until I spotted another birder, who kindly took me back to the spot and there it was, feeding at the roadside!  I first made sure I got to see it well then, just as I got my camera out, a van came past and flushed it into the bushes and out of sight. It appeared again, rather briefly, but then seemed to disappear, so I headed back to my hotel for some breakfast and to check-out, elated I'd actually seen the bird but without any pictures to prove it.  After breakfast, I headed back to the spot, which now had several others waiting, and we stood there for an hour and a half in the pouring rain without any sign of the bird.  Then, as if by magic, the rain stopped, and the bird flew in and started feeding again just before the birders who'd taken the morning ferry arrived, and we all got great looks for a few minutes until it headed off high over the trees.  It looked like that was it, so I went off exploring the island (more of which in the next post) but I returned to the spot in the afternoon before catching the last ferry, and this time it was feeding in the grass verge for at least half an hour so I could finally get some photographs.  It has not been seen since!

Blue summer

It's been three, long years since I last added a new species of butterfly to my Belgian list.  Having already seen 81 of the 90 or so regularly-occuring species, the remainder are all rare, extremely localised and most have very short flying times, meaning a carefully planned trip to the right place at just the right time is required to have a chance of connecting with one.  Yesterday, I made an expedition to the Turnhoutse Vennengebied north of Turnhout for Alcon Blue, which is only found in three or four places in Belgium.  There were lots of Silver-studded Blues flying around trying to confuse me but, as soon as I spotted an Alcon Blue, I knew it had to be that since it was much bigger.

I only saw the one adult although I did also find two eggs on a gentian, the caterpillar's foodplant. 
Two short walks in the forest last week were much bluer, though, since I got to see a Kingfisher entering its nesthole with a fish and spent a while photographing damselflies, including Azure Bluet and this Small Red-eyed Damselfly.

Cuter and cuter

Challenging the Grey Wagtails of my last post for the cutest baby prize, this Little Grebe chick was one of two I found being fed by their parents in the Sonian Forest yesterday.  There were lots of young birds around, indicating a good breeding season, and I even got to watch a young Buzzard being taught to fly by one of its parents.  At the other end of the cuteness scale was this juvenile Carrion Crow, whereas a fearless baby Robin allowed me to get really close.

Booted bonus

On Saturday evening, 29th April, I was just thinking that the Swifts should be back the following day and sat down looking out over my balcony, only for my first Swift of the year to appear a few minutes later, hawking insects above the park!
Yesterday, I guided a group around my old patch of Mechels Broek, near Mechelen, and, recognising their distinctive screaming calls, spotted a migrating flock of 30 Swifts high in the sky.  It was a beautiful morning, with a singing Nightingale a couple of people managed to see briefly, a pair of perched Kingfishers and lots of recently-arrived Whitethroats entertaning us with their display-flights.

Having enjoyed a Kestrel divebombing a Buzzard, with several White Storks circling around, I was looking at another Buzzard when a second, much higher raptor flew into my field of view.  As it circled, I got to see the distinctive white-black underwing pattern of a stork, and really had to look hard to make sure there wasn't a long neck and beak attached but no, it had a very small head which hardly protruded from the body.  It was only then I realised we were looking at a Booted Eagle, my first in Belgium, just before it glided off high to the south-east.

Not yesterday's bird, this was taken in Israel.

Catching up

At the end of March, I had a lovely walk in the Forêt de Fontainebleau, south of Paris, hearing several singing Cuckoos and finding a single Bonelli's Warbler.  This is the closest this species breeds to Brussels but I wasn't sure they would be back so early.  Three Black Woodpeckers showed unusually well in an aerial display flight and I was very pleased with myself for locating a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker by its tapping. 
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.

Hide and seek

Our Chiffchaffs arrived en masse during the night of 15-16 March, with a dozen or more at a lake in West Flanders on 16th, and the first one singing in my neighbouring park the following day.  I also saw my first Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Avocets of the year, while a quick visit to my Brussels patch had me playing hide and seek with this female Green Woodpecker.

She was feeding in a field accompanied by another bird which seemed to be her offspring from last year, and immediately flew up and landed on the opposite side of a fencepost to two walkers who were passing by, so that she was invisible to them.  I watched this from a distance but then managed to get much closer, until she spotted me and did exactly the same thing again, occasionally peering around the side to check if I was still there.  I only managed to fool her into thinking I'd gone by hiding behind a bush, upon which she promptly dropped down into the field and resumed feeding again.

This very vocal Grey Wagtail, on the other hand, was doing its best to distract me since I think I may have located its nestsite in some thick ivy.