Well you’ve got to twitch a Cattle Egret when it’s right on your doorstep! A post went out on social media on 30th January, stating that a Cattle Egret was in a sheep field at Staunton Harold Hall, ten minutes from where I live, but unfortunately in Leicestershire by a couple of miles! So the morning of 31st January, I decided to go and look for it. Well I scoured the fields and areas where I thought it might be and couldn’t locate it, or any sheep for that matter. I did find 2 Red Kite, a Raven, five Nuthatch and a pair of Egyptian Geese, three Gadwall and three Little Grebe, but sadly no sign of the Cattle Egret.
I went back home and we decided to head back to the Hall and have some lunch in the nearby Stables Courtyard. As we arrived, I decided to walk to the edge of the lake area to scan, just incase the Egret was present. As I was walking towards the area, I received a tip-off that the bird was back, so it was, much to my delight. After lunch we headed back home, I picked up my camera and made my way back to the Hall. Perfect timing as the bird was showing well, as they say. A great end to a great day birding around my local area, with two Great White Egret, six Little Egret, a female type Goosander, 17 Wigeon as other highlights.
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Knowing nothing about a cattle egret at Staunton Harold, I was down there briefly an hour ago waiting for my wife, who I’d left in the gallery, to catch up with me before heading home. I’d stopped to scan the lakeside with my bins from a spot just below the church when this very egret fluttered right into the centre of my field of view to land about 25 metres away on the edge of the water. A white egret—it must, I assumed, be a little egret. But as soon as it had folded it’s wings, I could see it was unmistakably a cattle egret. Well I never.