Cattle Egret...

There has been an incredible influx of Cattle Egrets recently with birds turning up just about everywhere, sometimes in small flocks!  Turn back the clock 30 years and this was a real rarity here in the UK. I vividly remember twitching one somewhere on the outskirts of Yeovil not far from Sutton Bingham Reservoir and at the time I had no real expectations of when I might see another...how times have changed!

There has been a single bird moving around the lower Axe valley area for a few weeks now and when I heard of one that had turned up locally near Chard yesterday, I assumed it might well be the same bird, that was until the Axe bird was seen at around the same time, so this was yet another.

I didn't get a chance to look for it until today but it was still hanging out with ten Little Egrets when I tried for it and not surprisingly, it was staying close to the cattle feeding in the field. It was always distant but here's a heavily cropped shot of it.

Cattle Egret near Tatworth

Never thought I'd say this but it was a pity the sun was out. Could really do with a slightly cloudier day so that it doesn't appear too over exposed (even though I'd compensated for this in camera). With a bit of luck it might hang around.

Dave Helliar arrived just as I was leaving and got a nice photo of it as it moved closer...

Cattle Egret: Dave Helliar