In February 2017, I expressed my hope that the cattle egrets overwintering around Warblington would be tempted to stay on and breed. For the past couple of years the small winter flock has dispersed in spring, the birds presumably migrating south to breeding colonies in continental Europe, but this year they lingered on well past their usual late-February departure date.
At the beginning of June five birds appeared at the Langstone Mill Pond heronry, sporting peach-coloured nuptial plumes on their backs, breasts and crowns, and two-toned bills, coral-red at the base and egg-yolk-orange at the tip. After a few days it was clear that they had begun to prospect disused little egret nests, and soon up to 10 adults had been seen in the area.
The nest platforms are concealed by dense foliage, but over the months I have been able to catch glimpses of the cattle egrets displaying, gathering nesting material and incubating alongside the established, earlier-nesting, little egret colony. On 5 July a tiny, downy chick was spotted – the first confirmed breeding record in Hampshire.
The chicks have fledged from all but one of the nests now. Arriving an hour before sunset I witness two juveniles making a flying sortie, exploring the holm oak and willows on the far bank. An adult sits preening on a low branch overhanging the water, stockily built and slightly smaller than the elegant little egrets it is perched beside.
Another adult is in attendance at the occupied nest, its three offspring clambering around in the surrounding canopy. As its mate flies in from the east and drops down to the nest, it chatters a greeting then flaps over to a neighbouring roosting tree. The youngsters scramble over to their parent, raucously begging for a share of regurgitated invertebrates.
Keen-eyed local birders have observed eight juveniles accompanying the adults as they forage among the cattle on nearby Thorney Island, so it’s likely the final count will number 11 young. While colonisation has been slow in comparison with the rapid expansion of the little egret population in Britain, the species also bred successfully in Essex and Northamptonshire this year, so with luck these striking immigrants are here to stay.
