• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Egrets

D

David Gauntlett

Senior Member
Why do you never have a camera with you when you REALLY need it? Today, we were driving through the Chess valley near my home, close to Latimer village, when I glanced left....and couldn't believe my eyes. There was a small tree, between fifteen and twenty feet (4.5 to 6 meters) tall, completely devoid of leaves of course, but instead there were TEN white egrets roosting in it! They were so evenly spread that it looked like a surreal, decorated Christmas tree! Not only that, I saw several more on the banks in the half mile or so between there and Chenies village. We have had egrets along the Chess for a number of years, I often put them to flight when walking my dog...but I have never before seen so many together in one place.

The white egret 'decorated tree' phenomena is quite common in Kenya and Tanzania, I have seen it there a number of times, exactly the same birds too......but in England, in the winter? That's a first for me. I think I might just take my camera for a walk when I get the chance. That would of course guarantee I never see such a gathering again....but you have to try :)

Cheers, Dave.
 
As a keen birder, I remember 20+ years ago when twitchers would flock to see a Little Egret, but move forward to today and they have a healthy breeding UK population.

Their larger cousin the Great White Egret (Grey Heron size) is also now on the increase with a small UK breeding population.

No doubt a product of global warming!
 
Yes, one assumes it can only be down to global warming Neil. Yet another example to demonstrates that wild critters sense things long before we do.

Obviously this winter is far warmer than usual, but if it weren't for the scientists telling me that global warming is a fact, I would have put it down to a cyclic thing. I certainly haven't noticed an overall trend towards our country warming up....in fact we have had some pretty dismal summers over the last twenty years.

Perhaps the suggestion that our seasons are leveling out is true, temperature differences becoming less, but with extreme storms and other weather phenomena becoming more common. If so, that's not exactly what my wife had hoped the term 'global warming' would turn out to mean :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
Egrets I've had a few.
 
Here in Tewkesbury with the flood plains they are quite a feature. However a couple of years ago I had a bit of a scoop when I saw a Cattle Egret, in a classic pose on the back of a longhorn bull. :)
They eat fish you know..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top