Thanks to volunteer Phil for his sightings update
Recent Sightings Friday 9 December – Egrets and Golden Plovers
There was certainly a dramatic change in the weather since my visit last Friday. The hard overnight frosts had been replaced by a mild southerly breeze and ice had turned back to open water. A very murky journey to Pulborough in the morning turned into a bright day with just a hint of mistiness around the South Downs. In this photo the sunshine is breaking through the mist around the pine trees on The Clump.
This was to be a day of unusual sightings and one that prompted me to do some research to improve my knowledge about egrets. In the morning and later in the afternoon a great white egret was present on the North Brooks. This may have been the same bird reported by a volunteer colleague who lives nearby a few days ago on the Sussex Ornithological Society website as seen from his sofa through the window! There was no chance for a usable photo as I caught up with this bird at 3.45pm in the gathering gloom.
For readers not familiar with this species, the great white egret looks very like a large version of the little egret which is not an unusual sight here. However the great white is as large as a grey heron and has a yellow bill instead of the black of the little egret. Also the little egret has distinctive white plume feathers and if you get a chance to see its feet they will be yellow instead of the black of the great white.
Great white egrets have been seen occasionally across much of the UK but apparently are more often seen in the south and usually in winter or spring. The numbers are small (the RSPB website suggests only 35 wintering birds in the whole UK) but when present their size and bright white colour makes them easy to spot. In recent years I have found RSPB Dungeness to be a good place to see them but have also found them on the Somerset Levels where small numbers have bred successfully in recent years. Attached is a photo taken at Dungeness last year.
Little egrets, one of which was handily present on the North Brooks for comparison, started colonising the UK from Europe about 25 years ago and have gradually become an established breeding bird here. I have heard speculation that this was due to climate change and that the great white would follow for the same reason, but there is other evidence suggesting that little egrets may have been in Britain back in the Middle Ages and gradually hunted to extinction here. It seems that they may have been used as food for royal banquets but it is beyond doubt that their white plume feathers were once widely used to decorate hats, pushing the bird into a big decline right across Europe. However when conservation laws in Europe in the 20th century started to have a positive effect the population recovered and birds started to colonise (or maybe re-colonise) the UK. The attached photo shows a little egret outside Winpenny Hide.
Another somewhat unusual sighting was a substantial flock of golden plovers. A small number seen in the morning on the North Brooks may have joined a larger group which was loosely associated with several hundred lapwings in front of Winpenny Hide. I counted 73 golden plovers on the ground and cannot recall seeing so many here before. There may be more in the attached photo of the plovers in the air after they and the lapwings were disturbed by a marsh harrier and a pair of buzzards.
At this point the groups very clearly separated in the air and it was noticeable the plovers were flying higher than the lapwings, something I’d spotted last year on a visit to Rye Harbour where a group of around 2000 wintering golden plovers was to be seen. The size difference between the plovers and the larger lapwings became more obvious when the birds were flying. The following photo was taken at Rye Harbour with the sun catching the bird’s undersides.
Elsewhere .a firecrest was spotted around the oak tree behind West Mead hide and there were several goldcrests to be seen all around the reserve. A large flock of linnets was feeding on the islands in the North Brooks in front of Nettleys hide along with a smaller flock of pied wagtails enjoying the mounds of mud from the recent ditch clearance. A flock of meadow pipits was spotted behind Winpenny and mistle thrushes were seen at Black Pond and at West Mead – this one having a bath.
All the usual winter duck species were present and the resident green sandpiper at Winpenny was clearly seen.
Finally, instead of the more usual winter sunset, I was able to enjoy a moonrise behind the trees by the path up from Nettley’s Hide.