A break in bad weather, some free time, and continuing reports of a Cattle Egret at Thornton, had me going to try and find it on this particular Monday afternoon. Cattle Egrets are relatively rare in these parts, and Thornton is only 13 miles (21 km) from my home.
Reports stated that it was being seen in the field behind Sharpe's Close. On arrival I found a firmly closed farm gate between me and a footpath that ran alongside the field edge. Going back onto the main road, and heading south-east, I found access to the footpath from the car park of the Steam Trumpet pub. Slowly making my way to the north-west along the path, my vision being limited by the falling-away curvature of the field, I was beginning to think I'd drawn a blank. However, on reaching another entrance to the footpath, I spotted a white shape between the legs of horses two fields, but only about 35 metres, away from where I was - the egret! I tried for a 'safety shot'.
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| Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) - Thornton |
I stood stock-still, hoping for it to emerge somewhere where I could get a clear shot at it. However, it didn't stay long before flying up into the adjacent field and starting to forage in the mud. I moved to the end near hedge where I could peer round the hedge and watch it at a distance of around 60 metres.
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| Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) - Thornton |
After a while it flew off south east, over the hedge. I retraced my steps along the footpath and found that it had landed at the edge of the field adjacent to the end of St. Peter's Drive. I decided to hide myself behind a bush on the footpath behind Sharpe's Close, where I could watch through a gap in the bush, and wait in the hope that it would make its way towards me, which it eventually did!
In the shots I got, you can just see that the bird has a touch of colour on the crown suggesting that it is heading towards breeding plumage. - I've now been informed that this is a young bird, and not likely to be breeding anytime soon! Thank you, Noushka
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| Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) - Thornton |
Having wandered towards me, it then wandered back again and over the brow of the field and out of sight. I waited a while, and then eventually saw it flying southwards, over the houses. As a very cold wind had suddenly arrived, accompanied by dull weather I came to the conclusion that it was time to go.
I'd not been to Kelham Bridge nature reserve for a while, so decided to call in there on my way back. It started to snow as I reached the first hide, and no birds were visible, other than a few tits at the feeders. There was plenty of ice on the water, and the sun was, amazingly, still shining, although the skies were dark in the distance!
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| from the first hide - Kelham Bridge |
There was little of interest from the second hide, also. Not wanting to come away empty-handed, I took a few shots of the Shovelers there.
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| Shoveler (Anas clypeata) (female) - Kelham Bridge |
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| Shoveler (Anas clypeata) (male) - Kelham Bridge |
It suddenly went dark and heavy snow started falling. Time to go again. I had a good covering of snow by the time I got to the car, and was glad of the car's efficient heater!
It had been a short afternoon's birding, but an enjoyable and rewarding one.
I'm relatively sure that my next post will be on my visit to the Isles of Scilly.
Thank you for dropping by.
A lovely set of photos of the Cattle egret, a bird I am quite familiar with from South Africa. The shovellers always fascinate me so I am glad that you did not come away empty-handed.
ReplyDeleteHope the snow has stopped, we had quite warm day to day, it actuallly feels like spring!!! It won't
last though.
Take care, best wishes, Diane
Hi Diane. Those Cattle Egrets are quite widespread. Although once relatively rare in England, they are starting to get a bit more common. Maybe, one day, they'll be as common as Little Egrets have become now.
DeleteI never tire of seeing Shovelers - -a delightful duck species.
We had a really good spring day yesterday, with plenty of warm sunshine. Sadly, I was unable to take full advantage of it as I had to conserve my energies for giving a talk in the evening. Today it's back to cloudy with a cool breeze!
Take good care, and have a great weekend - - - Richard
Hi Richard, I'll bet your sightings of the Cattle Egret, fabulous pictures, fantastic bird......
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bob - much appreciated! Have a great weekend - - - Richard
DeleteExcellent series of shots Richard. Like the low angle you have achieved with the Egret.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marc. The 'low angle' of the shots was imposed rather than engineered! The terrain was convex, so the ground was rising in front of me before falling away again. The 'low engle' effect came about because the bird was still a fair distance away from me but, effectively, raised up to nearer my eye level.
DeleteBest wishes - - - Richard
Hi Richard! Amazing birds! I have seen here in a few lapwings! Spring comes! Greetings
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anne. I'm hoping that spring will come - and stay for a while! Lapwings are a beautiful bird to watch - I love to see them in flight.
DeleteBest wishes to you and the family - - - Richard
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeleteVery nice photos of this young bird, he won't be breeding this season!!
I love the shovelers, certainly one of my favourite ducks!
Enjoy your weekend and share hugs with Lindsay :)
Thank you, Noushka. I've put a note in the text now about my false assumption! Yes, Shovelers are rather special ducks.
DeleteWith my very best wishes. Take good care - - - Richard
On a bit of a roll with the rarities. Great images and really liked the last series of images of the bird. Just shows the results of patience when photographing such birds, great work
ReplyDeleteThank you, Doug. There should be one ot two not-so-common species coming up in my Scillies post soon - and I'm not just referring to the owl!
DeleteBest wishes - - - Richard
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeletereally nice to get the koereiger for your lens :-)
You could photograph this little heron freely and fairly close up.
The horses in the first photo are also fun to see and certainly see the cows to see between the horses' legs.
Finally, a nice shovel.
Kind regards, Helma
Thank you, Helma. It really was a pleasure to photograph this bird. With my best wishes - - - Richard
DeleteHi Richard: I am away on Vancouver Island so I am a little late catching up on blogs. Noushka is quite correct, this is an immature bird. I also think that you are correct in your assumption that this species is going to become more common in Britain. It certainly has colonized a substantial part of North America.
ReplyDeleteHi David. I hope that you are having a great time with family on Vancouver Island. Through my late uncle, I know it to be a beautiful place.
DeleteThank you for your observations. Although I am not disagreeing with you, I would be interested to know how both you and Noushka came to your conclusions on the maturity of this bird. I made my assessment based on the colour appearing on the crown, and on other people's images of this bird at this site which clearly show a yellow bill shading to reddish at the tip. My photos do not show this reddish colour, possibly because the light conditions have bleached out much of the colour in them. Any 'blackness' on the bill was, I can say with relative confidence, caused by the adherence of soft sticky sticky mud and horse manure. I would also assess that the 'fluffiness' of the plumage (which makes it look young) was due to the bird's protection against the near-freezing breezy conditions.
I had no idea that this species was getting established in North America!
My love to you both - - - Richard