Well it's not quite the same as the Great White Egret that I spotted over at Southport last Thursday but still a wonderful bird... I had to get that in as I was the first one to see it lol...
Yes that's right the Little Egret, such a wonderful bird to have in this country, I remember about 10 year ago if not more I was at Fairhaven Lake with my family and a Little Egret had turned up at Freckleton Marsh and this was considered a BIG tick and many people when to see it. That was my first encounter and now I can't go out the sea side reserves without seen one.
This memory excites me a lot because of how quick they have inhabited our country. When I think back, not just over my life time but even further, I see other examples of this, a bird that we all take for advantage and is breathtakingly beautiful, if you just stop and look at it, the Collared Dove, there everywhere and most people get sick of them but this bird only came into Britain in the 1950s and now you see them every day. The Avocet I have seen this change in the last 20 years if not 10, they have spread more that anyone could have expected, 40 year ago you had to get a boat out to a remote island off Norfolk to have a chance of seen them but now we can just wait for this gorgeous bird to come to us.
This excites me because I want to know what's next, my prediction would be the Spoonbill, not common just yet but sighting are getting easier every year, last year building false nests, I'm not sure but they could have nested this year, and what's after that the Cattle Egret maybe, possibly even the Great White and then what I can't wait to find out, maybe some of the smaller birds a Greenish or Yellow browed Warbler, Gulls, Harriers... Who Knows?
The history of birds is so exciting but the future is something else...
Right I'll eventually get to some pictures... I hope that you like them after all that:-
This is an area that I am very interested in. I hope that you had time to read the above, as I would be very interested to hear your opinions on what birds you think might come next or if you have any examples of birds that have inhabited this country,
So please let me know what your thoughts are by clicking comments under this post and leaving your ideas,
Thanks Always Lee Harrison.
Hi Lee,
ReplyDeleteWise words. Spoonbills bred on the Ribble Estuary once not so long ago, in the gull colony at Banks (where your GWE currently resides). I can remember "twitching" Little Egret for Lancs when I first moved up here and a few months later seeing 3 together on the Ribble, a county record gathering at the time I was told. Now 60+ in a roost is the norm at this time of year. How times change.
Nice pivs Lee.
Colin
love the pictures of the egret flying
ReplyDeleteWell there you go, I never nkew that Spoonbills had bread round here.
ReplyDeleteThanks Collin