Great white egret

We went along to the Hanson nature reserve, or Linford Lakes at around 3.45 today, just as the light was starting to go on what had been a beautiful sunny day. (I nearly had another close nature encounter earlier when I saw some mushrooms growing on a city grass verge, spotted from the bus as it passed, and considered stopping on the way back to investigate, but after 3 hours' shopping, sense prevailed and I left them alone). There has been a great white egret at the Lakes for some weeks. We didn't see it when we went with the organised trip a few weeks ago, but have intended to go back since, both to see whether we could see the egret, and to see whether we might see the short eared owls or barn owls.

We went to the first hide which overlooks the lake and the spit. The lake seemed very busy: the usual ducks, quite a few swans, a small number of lapwings and one or two egrets that were still wading with the remainder roosting in the trees. We counted around 22, but the light was starting to fail and we had not seen the great white, until another bird watcher came in and pointed out that it was roosting with the others. And indeed it was. Much bigger, and still light enough to see its yellow bill and to get an impression of its size when it moved around (though we had not noticed previously!)

After 5-10 minutes it flew across the lake and we had a good view of it flying - and we presume it went off to roost somewhere else. We kept our eyes open for the owls but did not see any. When I have seen the owls, it has usually been from the public footpath at the top of the field, near the canal, rather than from the nature reserve lakes which are in the valley, but we did not have time to go there before it got dark.

I knew (or thought I knew) that the great white egret is not normally found in North Western Europe and probably had a long way to come (unlike the small white egrets which were in northern France before they came over to the UK) but I had not realised how much it is a bird of the tropics. Presumably the British climate is rather a cold one for it, although there have been a number of sightings recently.

Autumn sightings and hearings

Autumn this year continues to be amazingly mild. I picked raspberries again yesterday (November 18th) and although there weren't many it was amazing to have any!

I have seen a couple of sparrowhawks recently, and as I didn't get good views, this prompted me to look up images of sparrowhawks in flight and to read descriptions to ensure that these were not kestrels. But I am fairly certain from the flight and behaviour and what was going on.

The first was a "fly-by". Whilst cycling on a path which borders the canal last week, a bird of prey appeared ahead of me and glided past me, very skilfully flying between two poplars and disappearing. This is typical sparrowhawk behaviour - like goshawks, they can weave in and out of wooded habitat, which kestrels typically don't do. The glide is sparrowhawk like too.

Then a few days later, hearing a commotion, I looked up to the sky to see crows harrassing a bird of prey. This was quite a long way up, and the bird was circling, gliding and occasionally flapping, with the crows in hot pursuit. Again the flight pattern was indicative of a sparrowhawk and also the flap and glide pattern. And when I looked up the silhouette, that too indicated sparrowhawk. There are also kestrels near where I saw the birds, but usually these are hovering and often their tails are more fanned out - and the body has a different shape.

But it is still not always easy when you don't get a good view. I did get a good view of a buzzard the other day though. We have a small number around - in fact I think it is mainly one pair that nests in the woods beyond the field I usually walk in. So they are to be seen circling around from time to time. But this one flew into the trees the other side of the river and perched there for a while, giving me an excellent view, before flying off. And that, I thought, was the end of it. However as I walked back later, again I heard a noise and saw that the buzzard was back near the trees above the river, being mobbed by crows. We have crows, rooks and jackdaws in this area but I think it is the crows that are the main "mobbers".

Another hunting bird is the tawny owl. I have not seen a tawny owl for many years. And indeed they are more likely to be heard. And cycling home on Monday night through the fields as I left work I heard the eerie hoots of an owl and it was a good start to the journey home.

I'm hoping to visit our local reserve today, where there are short eared owls - or one at least. Visiting at around 3-4 gives the best chance of a sighting as they are often active towards the end of the day, though in winter of course, they (and barn owls sometimes) can often be seen in the day when daylight is in short supply.