Fire(crest) and Brimstone

Now it really does feel like spring with a ridiculous 15°C in Brussels today, tempting out my first butterfly of the year, a male Brimstone, more than a month ahead of my previous earliest record.  My recent birding has been limited to Brussels and, having already seen 80 species so far this year, I'm running out of new ones to add, although I did manage to find a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker this morning, and finally connected with my first Middle Spotted Woodpecker of the year earlier this week.  The overwintering Firecrest is still in my local park but the Blackcaps disappeared during the heavy snowfall we had towards the end of January.  Apart from a migrating group of Skylark, with a few White Storks reported over Brussels the past few days, there has been little sign of migration so far, but it shouldn't be long now til the first Chiffchaffs arrive.  Until then, I'm keeping busy by trying to get a photograph of a Long-tailed Tit but they just never sit still long enough; so far they are winning 2-0.  Thankfully, the ducks on my patch are a little easier.