Great Egxpectations

Dan here.

Glad I went out today, because I finally found a great egret*, a bird which has been on my Aldcliffe wishlist for years.

It was feeding beneath the pylons which cross where Heaton marsh and Colloway marsh meet, in the company of ten little egrets and four grey herons.

A shocking dodgyscoped shot of this new patch tick:

The high tide revealed around 20 rock pipits and a few skylarks that would otherwise be lurking in the marshes, unseen.

Around 8 goldcrests and a single siskin were to be found in the copses and hedgerows, aswell as a lonely redwing and small parties of fieldfares and blackbirds.

Around five red admiral butterflies were noted.

DH.

* these large, scarce egrets are more often referred to as great white egrets, but this name gets my tautology goat. Until Britain gets colonised by dark-morph western reef herons, I've no need for the 'white'.

 Aargh! Thanks for listening.