Cattle egrets starting to invade East Anglia

Over the past year, cattle egrets have been observed at a number of sites throughout Norfolk, most notably at the WWT Welney reserve in the Fens. I have seen at least 5 of them, sometimes feeding among sheep in the surrounding paddocks and flood-plains. Rather remarkably, it is now possible to see Cattle Egret, Great White Egret and Little Egret all on the same day at this site.

Only a few decades ago, cattle egrets were still rare visitors to the UK, until a large influx over the winter of 2007/2008 saw over 200 birds recorded here, mostly in south-west England. This led to the UK's first record of breeding cattle egrets, with at least two pairs nesting in Somerset in the summer of 2008. Since then, they have become an increasingly common sight in the UK and, although still a rare breeding bird here, have nested in several other counties and look likely to become more established.

Cattle egrets have shown one of the greatest range expansions in the world of birds. At the beginning of the 20th century, the western form of cattle egret was only established in southern Spain, Portugal and North and tropical Africa. Over the next few decades they spread south to South Africa and began to spread north across Europe. They even managed to cross the Atlantic to reach South America, and have dispersed throughout that continent and up into North America, with breeding recorded as far north as Canada.

Apart from in Norfolk, I have personally recorded this same species in Suffolk (at RSPB Minsmere and SWT Carlton Marshes), Cape Verde, Zambia, South Africa, Cuba, Saint Lucia.

Posted on 15 April, 2022 18:36 by heliastes21