Mid-afternoon on Friday 6th I got the train to London for the first time which was a new experience, basically a complicated blur of Busyness, oyster cards, taxis, buses, people, tubes, busyness, people, undergrounds, oyster cards, people etc etc. Once I met up with Josh and James we went for a quick pub meal, raided Tesco then strait to Dover, onto the Channel Tunnel and into FRANCE....
Our first target was Reeves Pheasant in Northern France in a forest surrounding a small village called Hesdin. we saw at least 12 birds in total, the majority where females but we also had 3 smart males including this one that showed well next to the road.
The next target was Wallcreeper that had spent the winter in the town of |Dinant in Belgium, It took a while to find but we eventually got it flying along the cliff face one mile up river from the town, only me and James got on it but it wasn't long after when we located it back in the town. It started off feeding on the cliffs but then flew onto the walls of the Court house and showed brilliantly, at times it even went into the eves of the building for about 5 minutes! Certainly the highlight of the trip.
Later on that day we decided to go and look for Middle-spotted Woodpecker in Southern Belgium, it didn't take long until we found a pair of them, the male was very responsive and showed well.
We spent the night in a hotel in Utrecht, Holland that had a brilliant all you can eat tapas, the next morning we met up with Josh's friend Thierry Jansen who kindly took us to a Black Woodpecker sight near Utrecht. We got to the woodpeckers territory and it didnt take long before the male Black Woodpecker gave good views next to the main path! In the wood we also saw Goshawk, Woodlarks, a flock of about 150 European White-fronted Geese and heard both Green and Lesser-spotted Woodpecker. A good start to the day.
plenty of holes like this in the wood...
The best of the rest....
Despite the Flamingos it was a great weekend and has definitely made me want to go on more European trips!
