Here, though, is my traditional look back over the year just gone, the monthly highlights of which were as follow (lifers in CAPS);
January - Kingfisher (Brussels); seen well on 1st and at least three more times during the month, including one catching a fish at my Brussels patch.
February - Goshawk (Brussels); another scare, local species seen three times duing the month, with perhaps as many as five vocalising during a forest walk late in the month.
This was also the month I set myself the challenge of trying to photograph a hyperactive Long-tailed Tit but I failed miserably, this being the best I could do.
March - Goosander (Brussels); a new species for my patch list, it was first reported as a female but later reidentified as a 2cy male and lingered in Brussels until the end of August.
April - Red Kite (Brussels); I spotted my first one in Brussels from my apartment as it migrated north.
May - Redshank (Brussels); another new species for my patch list, I was very lucky to be there just as this migrating individual dropped in to check out the ponds before continuing its migration less than a minute later.
June - Tufted Duck (Brussels); although common in winter, only a few Tufted Ducks remain over the summer and finding a female with 7 ducklings was the first time I've been able to confirm breeding within Brussels.
July - Common Crossbill (Kalmthout Heath); the song had me first thinking they were Woodlarks until I managed to locate a displaying Crossbill during a guiding trip.
August - STILT SANDPIPER (NL); my first lifer of the year, twitched by bike from Amsterdam.
September - Merlin (Uitkerkse Polder, NL); a species I usually struggle to add to my year list, the first observation was a typically brief fly-by, while the second, also a migrant, was seen quite well.
October - Yellow-browed Warbler (Brussels); an unexpected discovery on my way to the supermarket!
November - BASALT WHEATEAR (Israel); although not strictly a lifer since it is currently considered a subspecies of Mourning Wheatear, this was another good and unexpected discovery which was subsequently twitched by several Israeli birders, some of whom got great pictures.
December - PINE GROSBEAK (Oslo); eighteen of one of my most wanted European species seen at point-blank range as a result of this year's exceptional invasion into southern Scandinavia.
This was not a great birding year for me since, as you can probably tell from the above locations, almost all of my birding until May was within Brussels. After that, a new job with virtually no holidays meant the only trips I could do were a weekend in Dublin, five days in Israel and the short twitch to Oslo. Still, the focus on local birding did provide an additional three species (Cetti's Warbler, Goosander and Redshank) for my Brussels patch list, which now stands at 108 species! My Belgian year list reached 168 species, 110 of which were in Brussels. Dutch excursions, a day at Rutland Water, and the Dublin and Oslo trips took my European year list to 202, with my short break in Israel making a total year list of 241 species. Although Stilt Sandpiper, Black Scrub-Robin and Pine Grosbeak were three great additions to my life-list, they were all more or less expected since they were twitches (or in the case of Black Scrub-Robin, targeted searching). The bird of the year award, therefore, has to go to the Yellow-browed Warbler, since it was my most unexpected and exciting discovery of the year, and right on my doorstep too!
My butterfly year was also pretty quiet since I only added Weaver's Fritillary to my Belgian list, although I did identify four new species in Israel. I had better luck with the odonata, though, seeing my first Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common Clubtail and Keeled Skimmer during the year.
