From Denmark to Den Haag

Last weekend, I visited this new nature reserve on the outskirts of The Hague. The idea was to practice our autumn wader identification skills and we were not disappointed, with both Little and Common Ringed Plovers, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Common Redshank, 3 Little Stint and lots of Snipe to keep us busy.  Whilst there, though, we heard two Gull-billed Terns had been reported from the far corner of the reserve and, looking over there, I could indeed make out a very pale-backed tern in the distance patrolling a marshy area.  We thus headed in that direction and soon got great looks at the adult flying around, my first confirmed sighting in The Netherlands.  Out of sight to us, the juvenile was sitting behind some vegetation waiting for the adult to bring it some food but other observers were able to decipher its rings which reveal them to have come from a Danish breeding colony.  Since then, I have been stuck at home in quarantine having contracted Covid but the bird Gods have taken pity on me and I have been able to enjoy watching young Peregrines receive flying lessons over my balcony, migrating Lesser Black-Backed Gulls and a young Pied Flycatcher!

Back to buntings

I finally got to do my first real birding/butterflying in over two months last weekend and immediately added a new species to my Belgian list by twitching this male Cirl Bunting which has set up territory in the province of Namur.  Despite the crappy photo, I got to see it really well and also heard it singing, its song sounding a bit like a half-hearted Yellowhammer.  I saw and heard a few Yellowhammers too, with at least three families of Red-backed Shrike, several Melodious Warblers and a great look at an adult Honey Buzzard.  There were also quite a few butterflies around, with lots of Gatekeepers plus this Scarce Swallowtail, which is rare in Belgium and usually only found around Couvin in the very south.

 

Topsy-turvy world

I'm still struggling to get around but, thankfully, one of the guides at Cristalino Jungle Lodge is keeping me busy whilst stuck at home by regularly sending photo's for me to identify or just admire. 
Now, everyone knows that butterflies fly during the day and moths at night, and their respective Dutch names of dagvlinder and nachtvlinder even incorporate that fact.  Most people also know, however, that some moths are active during the day, such as the Hummingbird Hawk-moth, which has resulted in several laymen coming up to me and claiming they have seen a hummingbird in Europe, the burnets, or this Nine-spotted Moth (Amata phegea) from the Alps.

Fairly recently, though, a group of moths, the Hedylidae, were found to be genetically closer to the butterflies than other moth families and thus reclassified as nocturnal butterflies.  There is even one species of Hedylidae, Macrosoma tipulata, which is more active during the day, making it the exception to the exception to the rule, or a day-flying nocturnal butterfly!  Try to get your head around that one, or just admire the latest addition to the Cristalino butterfly list, which has now officially passed 1000 confirmed species thanks to these nocturnal butterflies.

Macrosoma sp by Sidnei Dantas

Taking stock

I've not forgotten about my blog but have been stuck in bed for most of the past five weeks with two(!), consecutive sprained ankles.  The only birds I've been able to see, therefore, have been the Swifts screaming around above my balcony, although a Canada Goose spotted in a Brussels park on the way home from a hospital appointment made a welcome change.  Things are finally getting back to normal, though, albeit it very slowly, so I hope to be out and about and blogging again some time soon.

Marsh rares

Two years ago, I saw my first Marsh Fritillary at their one and only colony in Flanders.  Last year's focus on a birding big year didn't leave much time for anything else so I was keen to return there this month to see if the Marsh Fritillaries were still there and try to get some better pictures.  The first one I saw was similarly ragged but I eventually counted at least five different individuals and even saw a couple mating.

I'd picked what was probably the hottest day of the year, though, so apart from dragonflies and a few flowers, there was very little else to see.

Ragged Robin

Heathland highlights

Tree Pipit by Theo Hortensius

I made two separate trips to Kalmthout Heath over the weekend.  Saturday was very hot and it was rather quiet as a result, although there were Stonechats everywhere, with the usual heathland specialties of Tree Pipit and Woodlark also singing.  Despite checking lots of trees, I was unable to find a day-roosting Nightjar, so I returned there on Sunday evening to hear them singing.  The first one started churring at 21:43 and I even got to see the silhouette of one in flight with what little light remained at 22:00.  Whilst waiting for the Nightjars to get going, I managed to locate a singing Pied Flycatcher and enjoyed watching two Hobbies hunting low over the heather for what seemed to be moths, although the first dragonflies were already on the wing.

Berlin breeders

Last weekend, I returned to the wonderful Moorlinse Buch in Berlin, which I discovered only last October. The only geese around were Greylags but the winter visitors had been replaced by plenty of breeding Red-necked Grebes.  Some of the nests were ridiculously close to the shore, and the above picture was taken with my mobile phone!  There were lots of singing Nightingales too, with a hunting Marsh Harrier, displaying Goldeneyes, migrating Swallows and a single, male Garganey.  In some scrubby woodland nearby, I got great looks at a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and found both Common Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher, whilst a marshy area surrounded by reeds was full of calling Blue-headed Wagtails and at least six Wood Sandpipers.  This is fast becoming one of my favourite city birding sites and is well worth a full morning if you are ever in Berlin.