Morning!
There has been a cattle egret on the reserve today.
The first we heard about it was a phone call from Howard (who is in Shetland at the moment) saying there is a cattle egret on Wennington (wow, he must have good eyes!)
It then started over on Wennington (the marsh that can be seen from the Shooting Butts Hide), and then flew close to the visitor centre. We had lovely views as it wandered between the cattle on Purfleet.
Please excuse the bad picture - I took it on my phone, but you could see the egret with just your eyes in between the cattle (see the little red circle in the picture)
The cattle egret among the cattle - taken by John Humble today (4/10/18)
It has moved a little further round the reserve - it is with the cattle in the middle of the main part of the reserve almost half way between the centre and the Shooting Butts Hide.
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They are much smaller than a grey heron, with a much shorter bill, neck and legs compared to a little egret. This time of year both little and cattle egret look similar. In summer the cattle egret has a lovely buff/ yellowish colouring (see pictures below), but in winter they are paler like the little egret. The cattle egret has the smaller yellow bill, and the little egret the longer black bill.
Cattle egret in summer plumage by Mike Langham (rspb-images.com)
Here you can see the summer plumage - the legs and bill are yellow and the buff chest and head feathers.
Winter plumage cattle egret by Mike Langham (rspb-images.com)
The feathers are all white, legs darker and the bill yellow.
Little egret by Mike Langham (rspb-images.com)
The little egret has all white feathers, a longer black bill, and black legs with very distinct yellow feet.
You can click here for more details on the cattle egret.
We have also seen marsh harrier, kestrel, and ducks (including teal and pintail) this morning too!