Owl overdose

The Uitkerkse Polders are by far the best place in Belgium to see Short-eared Owl, with numbers fluctuating each winter, although I have never seen more than two at once.  The past few days, however, simply ridiculous numbers have been reported and I was convinced people were double-counting birds in flight but decided I had to check out what was going on.  Having started in Heist, where I got a great view of the long-staying juvenile Barred Warbler, I arrived at the owl location to find around 30 birders and four visible Short-eared Owls roosting amongst the grasses of a dried-up hollow.  By the time I left, two owls had already started hunting yet another nine were still sitting on the ground, making a total of 11 (and, going by other people's counts, it seems there were even more hiding out of sight)!  I've no idea if this an early influx or, perhaps, as some people have suggested, the result of successful breeding in the area but now is definitely the time to get to the polders if you want to see a Short-eared Owl or eleven!

Mooreigers

I spent a day at the coast this week hoping to see some migration but the southerly wind put paid to that idea.  The trees, on the other hand, were alive with Goldcrests plus the odd Firecrest and, whilst I'll never beat my photo from 10 years ago, I did at least manage a shot showing why they are called Goldcrests.

The polders already contained a 500-strong flock of White-fronted Geese, which seems rather early to me and bodes well for the winter.  Cattle Egrets used to be scarce along the coast but are now more or less guaranteed, mirroring their rapid range expansion elsewhere, and this one also posed for a photo which does justice to its name, although I prefer my English bastardisation of their Dutch name, Koereiger.