I haven't posted in this topic for a few months now, and I would like to add some sightings that I noted down earlier but didn't post until now, as well as some recent sightings.
Because it has been so long I decided to copy my full list below. Newly added sightings are underlined. I have also added some comments on my recent sightings, such as their locations and the circumstances in which I saw the animals, underneath the species listed per taxonomic category. Comments on earlier sightings can be found in my earlier posts in this thread.
BIRDS
1 - Great egret (
Ardea alba)
2 - Mute swan (
Cygnus olor)
3 - Tufted duck (
Aythya fuligula)
4 - Common pochard (
Aythya ferina)
5 - Gadwall (
Mareca strepera)
6 - Mallard (
Anas platyrhynchos)
7 - Eurasian coot (
Fulica atra)
8 - Greylag goose (
Anser anser)
9 - Grey heron (
Ardea cinerea)
10 - Common buzzard (
Buteo buteo)
11 - European robin (
Erithacus rubecula)
12 - Ring-necked pheasant (
Phasianus colchicus)
13 - House sparrow (
Passer domesticus)
14 - Common wood pigeon (
Columba palumbus)
15 - Eurasian magpie (
Pica pica pica)
16 - Carrion crow (
Corvus corone)
17 - White wagtail (
Motacilla alba)
18 - Eurasian collared dove (
Streptopelia decaocto)
19 - Eurasian blue tit (
Cyanistes caeruleus)
20 - Eurasian blackbird (
Turdus merula)
21 - Northern lapwing (
Vanellus vanellus)
22 - Eurasian jackdaw (
Corvus monedula)
23 - Common or European starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
24 - European green woodpecker (Picus viridis)
25 - Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)
26 - Rook (Corvus frugilegus)
27 - Common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)
28 - Mistle thrush (Turdus viscivorus)
29 - Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Number 23: Heist-op-den-Berg, Antwerp province, Flanders, Belgium, April 8th, 2020. I saw and heard several common starlings in the garden/on the house of our neighbors as well as in the trees next to the grain field behind our garden.
Numbers 24-26: Heist-op-den-Berg, Antwerp province, Flanders, Belgium, June 8th, 2020. I saw a European green woodpecker, a Eurasian jay and a rook flying over along the edge of a forest through the window of my therapist's office.
Numbers 27-29: Han-sur-Lesse, Namur province, Wallonia, Belgium, July 12th, 2020. The common redstart and mistle thrush I saw on the grounds of the Domain of the Caves of Han wildlife park while doing the walking trail through the wildlife park. The Egyptian geese were seen in or on the banks of the Lesse river where it runs through the wildlife park, just before the Chasm of Belvaux where it runs into the caves. Egyptian geese are a commonly seen established feral invasive species in Belgium.
MAMMALS
1 - European Red fox (
Vulpes vulpes)
2 - Brown rat or Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus)
3 - Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)
Number 2: Berlaar, Flanders, July 5th, 2020. Seen on my grandmother's property.
Number 3: Planckendael, Muizen, Mechelen, Antwerp province, Belgium, July 14th, 2020. I saw a red squirrel walking on top of the fencing around and climbing a tree next to the Darwin's rhea and vicuña paddock in the South American zone of the park.
REPTILES
1 - Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) - Han-sur-Lesse, Namur province, Wallonia, Belgium, July 12th, 2020. I saw a common wall lizard on and at the edge of a blue gravel pathway on the grounds of the Domain of the Caves of Han wildlife park while doing the walking trail through the wildlife park. This was, at least as far as I can remember, my first ever wild reptile sighting - and with certainty the first wild reptile I ever photographed.
AMPHIBIANS
1 - European common toad (
Bufo bufo)
INVERTEBRATES
1 - Common brimstone butterfly (
Gonepteryx rhamni)
2 - Firebug (
Pyrrhocoris apterus)
3 - Small cabbage white butterfly (
Pieris rapae)
4 - European honey bee (
Apis mellifera)
5 - Common wasp/Common yellow-jacket (
Vespula vulgaris)
6 - Black garden ant (
Lasius niger)
7 - Yellow meadow ant (
Lasius flavus)
8 - Common rough woodlouse (
Porcellio scaber)
9 - Common earthworm/Nightcrawler (
Lumbricus terrestris)
10 - Ground beetle
Poecilus versicolor
11 - Small copper butterfly (
Lycaena phlaeas)
12 - Red admiral butterfly (
Vanessa atalanta)
13 - Silver-washed fritillary (Argynnis paphia)
14 - Old World swallowtail (Papilio machaon)
15 - Oak processionary caterpillars (Thaumetopoea processionea)
16 - Brown garden snail (Cornu aspersum)
17 - Buff-tailed bumblebee or large earth bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Number 13 - Heist-op-den-Berg, Antwerp province, Flanders, Belgium, June 10th, 2020. Seen flying around within and around my chicken aviaries.
Number 14 - Han-sur-Lesse, Namur province, Wallonia, Belgium, July 12th, 2020. Seen on the grounds of the Domain of the Caves of Han wildlife park while doing the walking trail through the wildlife park.
Number 15 - Han-sur-Lesse, Namur province, Wallonia, Belgium, July 12th, 2020. I saw a nest of oak processionary caterpillars in a small English oak in the sika deer paddock on the grounds of the Domain of the Caves of Han wildlife park while doing the walking trail through the wildlife park. I kept my distance to avoid getting irritation from their irritating setae hairs.
Number 16 - Heist-op-den-Berg, Antwerp province, Flanders, Belgium, July 14th, 2020. A visitor to one of the plant and flower beds in our garden. Picture posted in the gallery:
Brown garden snail (Cornu aspersum), 2020-07-14 - ZooChat
Number 17 - Heist-op-den-Berg, Antwerp province, Flanders, Belgium, July 15th, 2020. Large earth bumblebee seen on the flowers of the Hibiscus shrubs in our garden.
NOT COUNTABLE TOWARDS TALLY
In the last few months I have found a few empty shells of the Brown-lipped snail (
Cepaea nemoralis) in our garden or in my chicken aviaries. I have however not yet seen a living individual of this species.
There are larger dominant species of honeyeaters like the friarbirds and blue-faced honeyeaters that are more easily found in suburbia.
), a lifer, and a jewel of the normally otherwise drab Primitive Spiders (excepting the tarantulas), a spider that can end a life in one bite, i''ve seen victorian funnelwebs before, but they are usually quite chill and like to stay in their web, but this mouse spider walked right past me. I even got a photograph of it with my I Pad.
