No-one could have done anything about it, not least because of lockdown, but also because I didn't realise they were Cattle Egrets first morning and only twigged the second, but sadly they were not repeated a third.
24th I picked them up going away from me, thought I saw yellow on the bills, couldn't gauge size, so let it go as a missed opportunity, think Great White anyway. Then 25th over they came this time head on and I instantly saw they were Cattle Egrets, but on they flew. Where had they roosted? We'll never know, but I suspect on DP somewhere.
They did end up in the 'Shetland Pony field' adjacent to Hurst Green Pit, where my friend Mark took 2 photographs before they flew off and I even suggested looking there without going myself, so when you think he found them nearly 2 hours after I saw them fly over, a good handful of people could have at least had a chance to see them. Given the circumstances I could hardly justify putting the news out a tempting locals to twitch these birds. Anyway I deprived myself the chance to watch them for nearly 2 hours. Luckily Mark got these two shots to remember it by;
So our third record and nice to get another self found species for me on my patch...188 out of 205 species ain't bad.
Now let's look at the herons and allies picture...
Bittern : First record July 29th 1983 (FJC), wintered 1985, 1988, 1995 and only 2000 and 2001 were the only years we haven't had birds.
Cattle Egret : First record 1/21st May 2007 (ADB), 1/10th May 2017 (GSE et al), then 2/24th & 25th April 2020.
Little Egret : First record Feb 19th 1991 BSL (VB), but not again until 1/9th Aug 2000, 2/13th, recorded every year after that and seen in every 2008, then year on year since 2010. Post breeding high counts hit 8 in 2007, 11 in 2010, 15 in 2015 and then a new trend a new high count of 18/29th Nov 2019.
Great White Egret : First record 1/5th Nov 2009 landed Lea Farm Lake (FJC), then 1/5th Sept 2013 (FJC & BTB), 1/21st Nov over (GSE), 1/18th Sept 2015, 1/20th Jan over (FJC), 1/13th May 31st Oct 2017, 1/9th April 2018, then a pair wintered locally and were seen dawn and dusk Jan to April 2019, and a single in Oct, Nov and Dec, 1-2 probable fly over sightings so far in 2020.
Grey Heron : Always common, small colony breeds on BSL's Goat island
Purple Heron : First and only record, an immaculate adult (Male?) found by Tern scrape 4th April 2000, stayed overnight and twitched by many next day.
White Stork : Dubious claims of sightings back in the 80's but first record 2/28th June 2018 (Ian Paine), photographed over Binfield later. Then 2/20th May low over Lea Farm Lake South (Suren)
Glossy Ibis : First and only record, 1/7th May 2011, (Ian Paine, Les Blundell and RSPB) stayed for barely one hour, relocated to Dorney where it did stay for a day or 2.
Spoonbill : 1/21st Oct 1983 (D Finnie) over along Emm Brook by golf course, unconfirmed claim of 2/13th May 1996 (not in County report), then 2/14th May 2007 (Tim James et al), stayed several hours in rainy conditions.
Common Crane : 2/6th May 2012, passed by North of DP heading East along A4 area, so not right to include them, it's just worthy of mention, but 4/25th Nov 2018 flew East over Lavell's and Lea Farm during a work party (FJC et al).
Does any of this mean anything in the grand scheme of things? I think so and despite it being complete speculation, with a heron/egrets and allies record like that I feel we have about the best chance in the county of pulling in one of the following any year now;
Black-crowned Night Heron : 3 county records - Burghfield Jan to Mar 1976, Wraysbury 4th to 8th May 1983, Thatcham 30th July to 6th Aug 1987, then 30th Aug to end Sept nearby.
Little Bittern : 1826 2 immatures shot, 1865 shot, 18th & 19th April 1972 Padworth
Sure I'd be happy with Spoonbill due to absence when the 2007 birds dropped in, but I'll stand by my prediction, that most likely a Little Bittern will be found on my patch in the next 2-5 years.
