After a very enjoyable couple of weeks in Dumfries and Galloway it was back to Ainderby and so this morning I walked along the Swale. The walk to the river was depressingly birdless but on the first bend I flushed a Little Egret and a Kingfisher. Soon after I picked up a Green Sandpiper and then a smart Greenshank.
These are less than annual visitors to the parish so always good to see. Another Kingfisher flashed by and then I spotted a second Green Sandpiper, three Cormorant and two more Little Egret…
They took off but I also glimpsed a third egret as it
disappeared behind the rookery wood. It looked big but it was difficult to
judge at distance so I walked on. A couple of Jays were here again and the
Greenshank flew in to be joined by two more. It was turning into a good day.
As I walked back to try and photograph the ‘shanks, I
decided I would retrace my steps just to see if the ‘funny’ egret had landed.
As I rounded some vegetation there it was, Great White Egret! It was
stood on the opposite bank but immediately took off and flew across in front of
me. I should have had some excellent flight shots but completely messed up my
camera settings so the following are the least worst of those I managed at
distance…
GWE are one of the species which has moved rapidly north, presumably driven by climate change, so it was on my ‘possible new birds’ list for the parish but fantastic to actually tick it off.
As I walked on it appeared there had been some bird movement
with a dozen Chiffchaff calling from bankside vegetation and also a smart
Wheatear, only my second of the year…
The only other sighting worth mentioning is another first for the parish, a Red Underwing moth, which was under the kitchen window of our friends Jim and Sue.
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