An Embarrassment of Egrets

I know that's not the official collective noun but I have an embarrassingly large number of Egret photos after this visit!

It's already October, so I thought it was worth a visit on Monday just in case the Beardies would show. However, as they are not known for being early risers, I thought I'd call in to the estuary hides first. I'm glad I did because I was greeted by this.

I admit I love Little Egrets so to have one fishing right in front of the hide in glorious sunshine was great. I haven't had a photo opportunity like that for ages.

There were actually several more around the edges of the pool and then, it was joined by its larger cousin.

Needlessly to say, cameras were overheating to have two such lovely birds so close in - at times my lens was zoomed out to 250mm just to keep the birds in frame.

It was a case of 'fill your boots' as you never know when another opportunity like this will come along.

The Great Egret looked odd when it gave itself a shake and went all fluffed up!

You could even get both birds in the same shot.

I think it thought it had an octopus … but it just turned out to be weed

The Little Egrets changed shift. Beautiful birds but they don't half make a racket!

They still look fabulous in the right light

The Great Egret just carried on

Meanwhile, out the other window, the odd Redshank left the flock and wandered close by.

Superb reflections in the shallow, still water.

A Grey Heron went punk after preening and looks quite annoyed about suffering a bad hair day

There were at least a dozen Greenshank flocked together, too but sometimes one would break ranks and go for a wander closer to the hide.

The shadow in the corner of the next shot is actually the reflection of the punk heron

As you can guess, I took a zillion shots with so many willing subjects. However, I forced myself to go onto the main reserve, where a pair of Bearded Tits showed up after about a half hour's wait on the newly constructed layby. Absolutely gorgeous birds and well-worth waiting for, just to see them, but they spent all their time on the grit trays and none in the reeds, so I didn't take too many photos.

Things are still quite dry in front of Grisedale and Tim Jackson hides, so not too much there on the day. A Marsh Harrier was down opposite Lower hide but too far for photos. Large numbers of Black-tailed Godwits were present at Lillian's hide

Spooked by nothing, they all take flight, which is quite spectacular as they are pretty close

It was one the better photo shoots I've had for a while even if you just consider the stuff at the estuary hides in the morning.