Species of the week: cattle egret

Regular readers of my blogs will know for the last 18 months or so I have been featuring a species from our 70 species to spot at Minsmere challenge. This was launched in spring 2017 to celebrate Minsmere's 70th birthday. If I had stuck strictly to focusing on species form this list, i would, by now, be about to write the last of this series, However, I have strayed away from the list a few times to feature other interesting species, leaving about ten species that still await my species of the week treatment.

I'm sure that I'll come to these in due course, but as we have now run out of these challenge sheets, I'll be selecting from the full list of Minsmere species for my weekly species of the week blog. With more than 5700 species still to choose from, i could, in theory, continue with these blogs for another 110 years - but even though many people refer to me as part of the furniture at Minsmere, i don't think I'll be around that long! I will, however, pick from many of the commoner and easier to spot species, as well sometimes focusing on rarer or trickier to spot species.

With this in mind, this week's star species is one that remains a rare visitor at Minsmere for now, but is likely to become much more frequent in years to come: the cattle egret. 

Cattle egrets are small white herons. They are slightly smaller and stockier than the much more familiar little egret and have a yellow bill. They are also much more likely to be seen away from water - and their name suggests, they typically feed among herds of cows and other livestock. In fact, if you've watched any wildlife documentary about Africa or India, the chances are you've seen cattle egrets among the herds of zebras, wildebeests, antelope or even elephants.

Cattle egrets have one of the widest distributions of any birds, and are rapidly expanding their range in many areas. They are widespread throughout Africa and the Indian sub-continent, as well as many parts of southern Europe. In the 1940s they suddenly began to expand their range, colonising both Australia and northern South America. Later they colonised Central America, most Caribbean Islands, southern parts of the USA, New Zealand and parts of central Europe. As this range expansion has continued, they began arriving in the UK more frequently and eventually nested for the first time in Somerset in 2008. Several pairs bred in England last year, and this autumn there has been an unprecedented count of 115 cattle egrets in Somerset, so it looks likely that they will follow the little egret and soon become a regular sight around cattle-grazed wetlands.

The cattle egret in the photo arrived at Minsmere last week. It roosts at Island Mere and spends much of the day feeding among the cattle at Eastbridge. In fact, it has often been possible to see five different species of heron at Island Mere this week, with regular sightings of little egret, grey heron and bittern as well as another scarce species: great white egret. The latter is another species that has only recently started breeding in England (again in Somerset), and is occurring more frequently as the population spreads north across Europe. Late summer and early has become a good time to see a great white egret at Minsmere, and at least one bird has now been present for several weeks. However, last week I was sat in Island Mere Hide watching one great white egret feeding along the reed edge when three more flew in and settled at the west end end of the reedbed. This proved to be a record count for Minsmere.

Great white egret by Ian Clarke

Island Mere has definitely been the place to be this week. As well as the herons, there have been regular otter sightings, calling water rails, several bearded tits, a singing Cetti's warbler, up to six marsh harriers and good numbers of gadwalls, shovelers and mallards. Other Cetti's warblers are singing at Wildlife Lookout, South Hide, the sluice bushes and North Marsh, signalling a welcome return of this distinctive song, while bearded tits have also been regular in these locations.

The young male ferruginous duck continues to show well on the pool behind South Hide - the light can be poor here in the afternoon, so an early morning or late evening visit is recommended. Up to four pintails can be seen among the hundreds of teals, wigeons, gadwalls, amllards and shovelers on the Scrape. Two avocets remain on East Scrape, with a green sandpiper on West Scrape, and a handful of lapwings, snipe, black-tailed godwits, redshanks and dunlins scattered around the Scrape.

For those visitors who are intrepid enough to spend their time seawatching, the rewards have been good this week, with sightings of great skuas, Arctic skuas, gannets, red-throated divers (some even in summer plumage), brent geese, eiders and common scoters, but for most visitors a grey seal is a more likely sighting on the sea.

There has, however, been plenty to see in the dunes, with several stonechats, linnets, meadow pipits and a couple of Dartford warblers present. The first redwings and fieldfares are slowly starting to arrive and a male brambling has been on the feeders this week. A few siskins and crossbills have spotted flying over, while one or two late swallows continue to pass overhead. Even more exciting, for those lucky enough to spot them, were a couple of yellow-browed warblers in the sluice bushes on Sunday, with another outside the Work Centre on Monday morning. With luck these Siberian waifs will pop up again somewhere later this week.

Yellow-browed warbler by Jon Evans

Finally, I'll take this opportunity to update on a couple of our popular wildlife spectacles. The red deer rut well underway, and the action can be watched from the Westleton heath footpath - with the added bonus of stone-curlew, woodlark and Dartford warbler in the same area. (If you are not familiar with the area, then please pop into reception for a map and directions to the viewing area.) You have about another 10 days to see the best of the action before the rut starts to draw to a close. We also have the beginnings of a starling murmuration. The most recent estimate was about 1000 birds, so nothing spectacular yet, but we think this flock may be increasing so we're trying to confirm numbers and locations in the next few days. Watch this space.

Red deer by Jon Evans