Yesterday, I made the most of the summery weather and headed to the coast, where I immediately located this juvenile Shag in Zeebrugge harbour. I was trying to take pictures of butterflies but kept getting distracted by the calls of various migrants. When I did stop to look up, there was a group of 30 Spoonbills passing silently overhead! There were quite a few of the typical, early autumn migrants around, such as Common Redstarts, Northern Wheatears and Willow Warblers, as well as at least three Pied Flycatchers. Whilst admiring four wheatears (including one of the much larger Greenlandic subspecies) lined up along a fence, I noticed they were intently watching the sky and looked up to find a Sparrowhawk passing very high overhead. In the final place I visited, some flowering Water Mint had attracted a feeding frenzy of butterflies containing one Comma, one Red Admiral and at least ten individuals of the spectacular Peacock butterfly (below).
