J'aime la Vlie

I first visited Vlieland thanks to 2023's Yellow-browed Bunting.  I really liked the island and its birding opportunities, especially during autumn migration and so have been back there every year since.  My 2024 visit was timed too early and ever so quiet as a result, although I did discover how good the island can be for seeing rainbows.  This past week was ever so windy with yet more rainbows but the birding was quite good too, by far the highlight of my 2 days on the island being the 1st-winter Common Rosefinch I found.  Bramblings were absolutely everywhere and one of the few species migrating into the strong westerlies.

The same winds were pushing seabirds ashore, with Guillemot, Arctic Tern, Kittiwake, Little Gull, several Red-throated Diver and a distant Fulmar, while the Kroonspolders held the usual collection of waterfowl, including several Pintail.

The second morning started rainy so I spent the first few hours in my room, watching passing flocks of Oystercatcher, until I heard a gull screaming and noticed this magnificent adult Arctic Skua chasing it around the ferry harbour, giving me one of my best-ever looks at the species.  Whilst birding on Vlieland can produce rarities, for me it is more about the sheer numbers of birds with the constant calls of Brent Geese everywhere, and I ended up seeing or hearing 85 species on the island, plus a Rook in Leeuwaarden station on my 7.5 hour journey back to Brussels.

Owl overdose

The Uitkerkse Polders are by far the best place in Belgium to see Short-eared Owl, with numbers fluctuating each winter, although I have never seen more than two at once.  The past few days, however, simply ridiculous numbers have been reported and I was convinced people were double-counting birds in flight but decided I had to check out what was going on.  Having started in Heist, where I got a great view of the long-staying juvenile Barred Warbler, I arrived at the owl location to find around 30 birders and four visible Short-eared Owls roosting amongst the grasses of a dried-up hollow.  By the time I left, two owls had already started hunting yet another nine were still sitting on the ground, making a total of 11 (and, going by other people's counts, it seems there were even more hiding out of sight)!  I've no idea if this an early influx or, perhaps, as some people have suggested, the result of successful breeding in the area but now is definitely the time to get to the polders if you want to see a Short-eared Owl or eleven!

Mooreigers

I spent a day at the coast this week hoping to see some migration but the southerly wind put paid to that idea.  The trees, on the other hand, were alive with Goldcrests plus the odd Firecrest and, whilst I'll never beat my photo from 10 years ago, I did at least manage a shot showing why they are called Goldcrests.

The polders already contained a 500-strong flock of White-fronted Geese, which seems rather early to me and bodes well for the winter.  Cattle Egrets used to be scarce along the coast but are now more or less guaranteed, mirroring their rapid range expansion elsewhere, and this one also posed for a photo which does justice to its name, although I prefer my English bastardisation of their Dutch name, Koereiger.