Autumn arrivals

I had hoped to be writing about my first Olive-backed Pipit but, having spent all weekend in the same spot at the Belgian coast while I was busy working, it was no longer around on my day off yesterday.  Still, as I got out of the coastal tram in Heist, the bushes were alive with Goldcrests, Coal Tits and Chiffchaffs.  Redwings were absolutely everywhere, with at least twenty of them foraging together in one grassy field.  There were also good numbers of Song Thrushes and Blackbirds, especially first-winter birds, around, plus various small flocks of Siskin, Greenfinch and Goldfinch, with a few Bramblings passing over.  Some Long-tailed Tits were in a mixed feeding flock containing at least two Firecrests and I wasted a good half hour trying in vain to get a photograph of one, but they just wouldn't stop moving.  Now, if Long-tailed Tits are too active to photograph, then you might as well forget about the 'crests but, when a Goldcrest started gleaning insects right in front of me, I just had to give it a try.  Sure enough, the first twenty or so pictures were blurry or only showed some random body part.  My preserverance eventually paid off, though, with this unbelievably lucky shot of the whole bird, including its gold crest!