Yesterday morning I was walking along the main footpath just before Horrock's hide when a white egret flew over just above tree height. My initial reaction was "Oh there's the little egret that has been hanging around recently".
There's not a lot of sky visible here and I had about 2 seconds or less to react, raise my binoculars and have a look at the egret before it disappeared behind the trees. Just about the only thing I had time to notice was that the bird had an orangey / yellow bill and dark feet. Then it was gone. Probably because I had been expecting it to be the little egret I apparently misjudged the size and identified it as a cattle egret. It sounds ridiculous now, but that's the way it is.
Then this morning Bill and Barry had a great white egret on the spit....🤦🤷♂️
With the benefit of hindsight, from the picture I have in my mind of the orangey / yellow bill yesterday, it was clearly a great white egret and not a cattle egret. The bill was too long.
Oh well, onwards and upwards.
Also this morning a (grey) cuckoo flew from the south side and over Horrock's hide. It seems likely that cuckoos have actually bred at the flash this year and not just passed through. I can't say that todays bird was definitely a male, but it was obviously a different bird to that seen two days ago which was for sure a rufous female. There's been a male singing on and off for a week or two which doesn't seem to be in any great rush to leave and this could be it. Given that it's now mid-June and adult cuckoos usually leave the country early after egg laying, it seems possible that they are here to stay for the summer.
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