After the massive Skylark migration of last weekend, I checked the Falsterbo website to try and get an idea where these birds were coming from. As they had only counted a few hundred Skylarks there, the huge migration was obviously coming from much further east, probably European Russia or even Siberia. The prolonged, easterly airstream had already brought above average numbers of other eastern species such as Yellow-browed, Hume's, Dusky and Radde's Warblers, Pine Bunting and Red-flanked Bluetail to our shores, but nobody could have predicted the crazy turn of events which ensued. On 4th October, a Siberian Accentor was found in Finland. With roughly 35 records in Europe over the past 100 years, this is a true mega but for one to turn up under such conditions was not really unexpected. Two days later, however, another was found in Sweden - two in the same autumn is exceptional; surely that had to be it, but no! Two more, one each in Sweden and Finland, were found on 9 October, with two new birds also found on 10 and 11 October. By 12 October, when another 7 were found, including the first outside Sweden and Finland with the first-ever for Germany, birders had realised something phenomenal was going on and we were experiencing an unprecented influx of this Siberian rarity which should be heading south-east to spend the winter in China, Korea and Japan. The snowball has just kept on rolling and the total now stands at a ridiculous 146 birds, with over two-thirds of them in Sweden and Finland. The remainder have been shared between Denmark (9), UK (8), Germany (7), Estonia (6), Poland (6), Latvia (5), Norway (5), Lithuania (2), and a one-day bird on Friday at the Maasvlakte representing the first for The Netherlands. With all this in mind, and a day's coastal birding planned with a visiting birder on Saturday, I quickly changed our first destination to the dunes south of the Zwin in the hope of perhaps finding the first for Belgium!
Birds were everywhere, with Chaffinches all over the bushes and lots of thrushes flying around but we didn't find anything rare at all, the highlights being a migrating Woodlark and a few Brambling. There were lots of Goldcrests, too, and we eventually got good looks at a Firecrest or two, with a juvenile Marsh Harrier migrating over Heist. The Visserskruis migrant trap within Zeebrugge harbour was literally hopping with Robins and Redwings, but the only warblers we could find were Chiffchaffs. By the end of the day, we'd seen tons of the commoner species but just had time for one last twitch to the very obliging Hume's Leaf Warbler near Blankenberge, which promptly became my 305th species in Belgium. We had a great day, therefore, with a total of 75 species, but the hunt for Belgium's first Siberian Accentor goes on.
A very nice summary of the invasion (so far!), together with some nice pictures, can be found on Dutch Birding.
