egret ?

[dove]

Was walking by the River Arun the other day when i saw several Heron like birds....they were smaller and completely white, i think they were Egrets ??? am i correct and are they common or migrants or returning this this country as i believe they used to be common here ?


 
 

[qapmoc]

Hi dove, I don't know what they are but if they are migrants you better take a good look now while you have the chance, because when bird flu gets to the UK  any migrating birds probably stand a good chance of being culled (nice way to put murdered) as soon as they cross the coast in the future.

[andyjevs]

Yes they probably were. One landed in the garden i look after in Brighton last year but was chased away by the resident crows. Apparently, there are several very large egret colonies in the UK....around Portsmouth area and along the Thames estuary are a couple of well known colonies, home to several hundred i'm led to believe.

[andyjevs]

I don't think they're migrants but resident all year in the uk.

[spudqueen]

They used to be quite a rarity but are getting more common. I have seen them regularly at Parkgate on the Wirral and quite a lot when I lived in Devon.

[Cetti]

 

Hi dove! Little Egrets are both resident as well as migrants now in this country. 

They came originally from around the Camargue region in France then  their habitat range expanded somewhat and they hopped over the Channel to make their home along the south and east coast of England.

It wasn't untill 1989 that the numbers increased - then in 1996 the first pair bred at Brownsea Island in Poole harbour. It's still one of the largest colonies, though there are still only about 50 breeding pairs in the whole country so not a common occurance by any means.

In recent years they have moved away from the shoreline and into our rivers and now it's a fair bet that one will turn up just about anywhere. (I was watching one yesterday on the Dorset Stour) In the winter numbers increase from migrating birds so we don't have a stable population, but when you do see one either make a note - where and when - or better still let your County Bird Recorder know.

[mimififi]

Wow, I live near the river arun too, it is beautiful isn't it. And I used to live near Rye too! Funny, in my mind's eye, ABers are all miles away from me, but now I've just found out youre all on my doorstep!!!

(sorry, that was off topic, but it spun my mind!)

[Narolines]

There's certainly a colony on the Tamar - not sure how big a colony, but I was quite surprised to see several near Calstock a couple of months back, then I discovered they'd taken up residence in the UK 10-15 years ago, as Cetti says.