Egrets Galore at Abberton Reservoir

7th December 2019

Cattle Egrets at Abberton and a Black Brant at West Mersea, so time for a visit to the Essex coast. Not many passerines around at Abberton, but there was a Meadow Pipit feeding on the grassy bank of the Layer de la Haye causeway.

From the Billets Farm screen a female Marsh Harrier was quartering the field between the screen and the causeway, but sadly never flew past the screen for a close-up.

On the reservoir the two Long-tailed Ducks were very distant and there was no sign of the Scaup, but a Black-necked Grebe suddenly appeared in the middle of the huge flock of Tufted Ducks and Pochard and eventually came a little closer for some shots.

Now on to West Mersea to try and find the Black Brant, and as it had been seen recently at the jetty that would be a good place to start, especially as there are not usually that many Brents here to search through. No sign however, and just then we received a call from Andy "Mersea Birder" Field saying that he had found it by Monkey Steps. These shots are of some Brents at the jetty.

A quick drive along Coast Road and we were soon walking along the beach to the flock of Brent Geese where the Black Brant was lurking, and as we approached it was even possible to pick it out with the naked eye. The flanks were quite white compared to the Brents and the necklace was nearly complete, joining at the front but not quite at the back.

So what about the egrets? Well, back at Abberton there were a few Little Egrets but all too distant for any photos. These birds first appeared regularly in the UK some 20-25 years ago and are now an established part of the scenery. Great White Egrets were the next to arrive in numbers and have probably only been present at Abberton on a regular basis in the last 10 years. We saw one fly over the causeway and this one was in Wigborough Bay, although double figures are often the norm.

But the newcomers are the Cattle Egrets which have been appearing over the last couple of years. Today there were four present in a field just south-west of School Lane.

Basically, if you had told someone 25 years ago that you were going to photograph three species of egret in one day at Abberton Reservoir you would have been laughed out of the old visitor centre.

I wonder what will be the next arrival?