Little egrets

09 Sunday Jul 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, parks

Tags

birding, birds, birdwatching, British birds, Egretta garzetta, Little egret

After reading reports of a Great white egret being seen at Roath Park lake last Wednesday evening, I decided a visit was in order for Thursday. Unfortunately, the Great white had flown the coop but I did manage to see Little egrets, which was almost as good.

170709 Little egrets (3)

Twenty years ago these birds were a rarity in Britain but, with the warming of our climate, the Little egret (Egretta garzetta) has been expanding its European range and was added to the British breeding list in 1996. They are still not that common in Cardiff so to see two birds together at the lake was a treat. (Apologies for the photos: the birds were a bit distant for my lens and their bright white makes them difficult to photograph in full sun.)

I wonder what their larger, much more common cousin and frequent lake visitor, the Grey heron, made of their visit.

Birding at RSPB Ham Wall

12 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Bittern, Black-tailed godwits, Blackcap, British birds, Glossy ibis, Great Crested Grebe, Great white egret, Little egret, Marsh harrier, Mute swan, RSPB Ham Wall, Shapwick Heath

Yesterday was an absolutely fabulous birding day, an outing with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club to the RSPB’s Ham Wall Nature Reserve near Glastonbury in Somerset. We also ventured briefly into the neighbouring National Nature Reserve of Shapwick Heath but I reckon you’d need a week at least to explore both places thoroughly and at all times of the day.

170612 RSPB Ham Wall

Most of the birds were rather distant so you’ll have to excuse my poor photos but I was able to see the birds clearly as many of the bird club members have good ’scopes and were happy to share. Some birding highlights were:

* three species of Egret: Cattle, Little and lots of Great whites.

170612 Little egret & Glossy ibis

* my first sightings of a Glossy ibis (seen here with a Little egret) and a Red-footed falcon

* more Bitterns than you could point a lens at and several beautiful Marsh harriers, gliding seemingly effortlessly over the reed beds. These two birds came into conflict at one point (fuzzy photo above right), with the Bittern presumably trying to defend its young against harrier predation.

170612 Baby Mute swans

* lots of babies, including those of Great crested and Little grebes, Mute swan, Tufted duck, Coot and Blackcap.

170612 Black-tailed godwits

* the Black-tailed godwits flying over the waters at Shapwick Heath.

On the way home, with the help of my car mates, I came up with an as-yet-unconfirmed list of 57 species seen on the day, and that was only the birds – more on the other creatures in tomorrow’s blog.