Yesterday, there wasn't a bird to bee seen on the Grand'Place. Usually there are a few pigeons around, but they had flown away, terrified. Why?

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Well, it was Scarecrow Saturday!

Every year, social, humanitarian, and charitable organisations are invited to create a scarecrow for the competition held in Brussels' main square. The public vote for their favourite scarecrow - you can vote for as many as you like but you pay two euros per vote. All the takings go to the organisations. A jury awards other prizes for the most original, the most creative, the most poetic, and so on.

Yesterday's sunny weather attracted huge crowds

and the atmosphere was lively and festive.

There were perhaps fifty scarecrows in all. Some had a distictly Belgian flavour, like this mussel and chips

and this waffle

.
There were can scarecrows of various types

and some mirrored their causes.

There was a friendly troll,

an elegantly-clad lady who was perhaps a bit of a bird brain

and this chap who looked a bit startled by the whole business.

Some creations were extremely colourful

I loved this intellectual-looking one

and this laid-back arrangement

It was hard to choose a favourite, and in the end I was swayed by the causes rather than the creativity. My votes went to this scary one

: the organisation raises money for educational projects in the developing world (more on why in a blog post next week) and this one

made from milk cartons and water bottles - the sign below says that 93% of Belgian household waste is recycled - I was impressed!

For more information (in French) and far better photos on the official site, see http://www.epouvantails.be/gallerie.php