What a difference twelve days make! Last time I wrote, there was still no sign of any Chiffchaffs, whereas I heard my first one singing on 9 April and, this morning, they were all over my regular patch. My first butterflies of the year were brought out by the sunny, warm conditions - this Comma, a Peacock and a Holly Blue. Several Coots were already on nests whilst a pair of Egyptian Geese were attending five of these cute little fluffballs.
Since my last post I also made a short visit to Kalmthout Heath, which provided several displaying Woodlarks and my first Stonechat of the year but, apart from that and a surprise Merlin seen briefly in flight, the heath was deadly quiet awaiting the return of the rest of the summer migrants.
