Benelux Bonanza - Loppem, Polders, Het Zwin

An en route long-staying Black-throated Thrush in the garden of a well-known Belgium birder proved far too hard to resist on Thursday morning, so we headed to Phillip de Ruwe's gaff in Loppem at first light. We got the 'gen' from some other Belgium birders and set up shop overlooking some apples on the lawn - the favourite feeding station of this particular bird. Before too long the Thrush came down and fed away happily on the fruit.

Siskins and Bramblings made up the supporting cast in the garden. As we left, we bumped into a trio of Italians, who had made the flight over to Belgium to catch up with this fantastic bird. In total, over 700 had visited the garden to see it. We all owe thanks to Phillip for allowing us the privilege of catching up with this Siberian vagrant.

Just as we left Loppem, rain set in for the day, making birding pretty uncomfortable. Ever persistent, we drove through the Loppem polders, bumping into large flocks of White-fronted, Barnacle and Egyptian Geese, as well as finding a Great Egret, several Littles, Grey Herons, and Cormorants bizarrely perched on lamp posts.

By the time we reached the Het Zwin reserve (Dutch side) the rain had dampened spirits and optics, but not birding vigilance. Our second Rough-legged Buzzard, a scruffy juvenile, took off from a fence post..

Estuary scanning revealed 50 Dunlin, 10 Grey Plover, 6 Redshank, 12 Avocets and 1 Spotted Redshank.

Back on the Belgian side, we momentarily escaped the rain to chow down some lunch in the reserve's legendary 'warm room'. Mustering up the energy for a final vigil, we headed out again. An angry Yaffle showed distantly before we headed into the woods and came across a mixed flock including Treecreeper and Mark's speciality, a Firecrest.

The birding adventure was over, but there was more excitement to come. Driving back into France, 3 'Douanes' promptly pulled out behind us on their motorbikes and signalled for us to pull over.

Turns out they thought we'd been 'smoking the cannabis'! The car got a thorough searching and Xander got a good grilling. The boys in blue started to lose interest when they realised they had stopped 3 geeky bird-watchers as opposed to drug smugglers, though. High on lifers, but nothing else!