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.
