Still a very rare species in the Netherlands. I've seen the species before but today was the first time I was able to make some decent photos of a small group of 4 birds which are already staying several days near the village of Lage Zwaluwe which is about 20 kilometers from where I live. Was very happy to see this species which is seen annualy in the Netherlands in very low numbers and which also has already bred a few times in the Low Countries .
In 2020 there was a successful breeding of cattle egrets in De Blankaart, a large wetland reserve near Woumen (Diksmuide, West-Vlaanderen) in Belgium. Two chicks hatched and were banded.
This was the first breeding after a series in the Zwin nature reserve (Knokke-Heist) between 1997 and 2002.
I've seen this species in the wild just once in the Netherlands, a single animal in National Park 'de Biesbosch' in 2020 (I've seen them plenty of times abroad though)
