It wasn`t that long ago that the Little Egret was classed as a rarity in Britain, indeed before 1950 there had only been a dozen or so sightings of this bird. Nowadays, it is a fairly common sight and by 2002 the bird had bred in 11 counties in England and Wales. The birds numbers have gradually increased and in 2006 at least 60 colonies had been recorded with c.450 pairs.
Maxey gravel pits is my local patch and this too has its fair share of Little Egrets, although I don`t think they breed here, no signs of this have been seen as yet. There have been 7 of these birds seen regularly, both in the pits complex itself and also on the little river known as the Maxey cut. Hopefully, one day these birds will indeed breed, but until then it is a lovely sight to see these graceful white birds with feet that look as though they have walked in a pot of yellow paint!
HI John...I get a kick out of these birds ...they just stand so still and rigid looking...,but none the less a beautiful bird.
ReplyDeleteThey are fairly plentiful here!!
Very nice!!
Grace
Non, Je ne egret rien. Geddit?
ReplyDelete(It's a bit obscure but Edith Piaf used to sing a song called 'Non, Je ne regrette rien '.
I'll get my coat.
Click here for Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
Those yellow feet always make me smile too! We see them around the estuaries here and I wonder how well they get along with the Grey Heron.
ReplyDeleteSome really nice shots John.
ReplyDeleteI get excited about seeing one of these at a time, you have scored really well here.
Nice blog John,
ReplyDeleteWe have quite a few here on the Island, they always look to me like they have a pair of yellow gloves on their feet!!
Dave
http://iow-birder.blogspot.com/
Wonderful images of the Egrets John.
ReplyDeleteA lovely bird to see.
That's brilliant, my favourites is the first and the third, magnificent.
ReplyDeleteNesta vida conheci muitos amigos,mas esse blog realmente é um Sonho!Amigo não é uma definição escrita ou falada,mas é o carinho o mimo de cada um sem dar,pedir nada. Gostaria muito de ti ver no feita poesia que é um pouco de mim se gostar me segue e comenta vou ficar muito feliz e vai me dar muito animo esta dificil não conseguir interagir com quem aprendi a amar a cada dia o feita poesia vai me colocar perto de vc ...Uma linda semana iluminada fica com papai do céu ! http://soueufeitapoesia.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteHi Grace,
ReplyDeleteThankyou. Yes, they are beautiful birds! Standing still for so long must take it out of them, mind you, they are really nervous birds and will fly very easily!
J
Hi Bazza,
ReplyDeleteI was going to put `egrets, I`ve had a few` (My Way, by Old Blue Eyes), but decided against it!
J
Hi Rob,
ReplyDeleteI have seen both the Grey Heron and Little Egret side by side on the Maxey Cut, they seem to get on fairly well! Mind you, I don`t know what would happen on any breeding grounds?!
J
Hi Roy,
ReplyDeleteThankyou. Yes, it`s funny to think that a `twitch` would have occured a few years back if one of these showed up, now we almost tkae them for granted!
J
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteYes, their feet are a bit strange looking! A useful I.D. clincher though!
J
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks. Always a delight to see this bird (for me anyway!).
J
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, I do like the first one too!
J