White Birds

After being run aground in the turbid shallows of winter for the past couple of weeks, it was a pleasure to set out once again on a quest for beauty and rarity. Certain white birds have been seen in the vicinity of Swavesey church which, just a few years ago would have been very rare indeed. Even when you know where to look they can still be elusive, as we concluded this morning. No sign of them.

No matter, we can go on to Fen Drayton Lakes bird reserve instead, where a short stroll from the car park brings you opposite the Old Ferry Boat Inn, just one of many pubs claiming to be the oldest in England. Most of what you see is seventeenth century, though some parts are older. The main problem with the Old Ferry Boat Inn is that the old ferry boat itself hasn't run for many decades!

photo from Wikipedia

(By DickDaniels (http://theworldbirds.org/) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17526412)

That superb little duck is a Smew, it's not the bird we were looking for earlier but it's still a far from common bird, perhaps a few hundred of them visit these islands in winter, but seven of them have been seen here recently. Lets go and find them.

We did see them, though very distantly, so we thought we'd walk around the small lake for a closer view. This fisherman cheerfully told us that he'd been there since before daylight and had just caught his first fish - we sort of knew how he felt. We did get a bit closer view of the Smew as well as many other birds, the sun shone and Song Thrushes were tentatively singing a few notes in readiness for Spring. Life's not so bad. We were heading for home when my brother Les said, "Lets go by Swavesey church again on the way back."

And there beside an old wall were four Cattle Egrets, with another four close by. According to the latest figures published by the British Trust For Ornithology, between 10 and 100 of these birds visit Britain in most years. There seem to be more about this year than ever, but it's still a surprise to find eight in a small field near a village road.

Although they are called Cattle Egrets they're just as happy associating with sheep or horses. Just as I was starting to take photos however, one, and then another, took to the wing. I did my best...

All was not lost though as they touched down in a paddock on the opposite side of the road...

I rather wished they'd lingered among the Aconites for a while longer; it would have made a pretty picture. Would you like to see a Cattle Egret eat its lunch? It's not so pretty as the flowers.....

"There'll be a nice snack around here somewhere, I'm sure".

"Maybe a bit further over this way".

"Aha!"

Is that a small snake, or a very large worm? 

"I don't know but it's tasty!"

"Tricky things to swallow though!"

"Gone!"

Meanwhile, over by the wall, it's kind of nice just sitting in the sun.

So that's the Cattle Egret, the latest of the family to make its home here. Just thirty or so years ago it was the Little Egret that moved in, then a few years back Great White Egrets began to be seen, now its the Cattle Egret. Who's next?

Take care.