Little Egret

About for or five weeks ago on the local television news they showed a picture of what was described as a Stork, pictured on the roof of a house in my village. Now I had not seen it myself and I was kicking myself for missing that one. But as I had been off doing other conservation work, I was kicking myself barefoot.

Then about three weeks ago I spotted what looked to me to be a Little Egret, a bird that is related to the Stork but I could not be sure of the identification as locally they are unique and rare in Britain, as is the Stork.

It is really climate change that is bringing these birds to Britain and to have them this far north could not have happened without the changing climate. So today when going to the supermarket on the bus, I saw the Little Egret while it delighted me, it also made me feel a little despondent as it shows just how much our climate is changing. To have a bird living in the area over a thousand kilometres further north than its normal territory illustrates just what effect a changed climate is having.

Even with mixed feelings, I was delighted to see the bird, if it is sticking around I may get a chance to film it. On the bus coming back I was talking about having seen the Egret when I spotted a raptor through the trees that fringe the road. Expecting to see a Red Kite, as the wing span looked correct, I was delighted to see that it was a Common Buzzard. Because of its location there I suspect that this is the same bird that has been active near the big Badger Sett. My fellow passenger looked bemused and had the look of a parent trying to pretend interest in what a child was interested in. Well that's me, an adult sized child.

The Egret had gone by the time I returned, not least because of the heavy rain. The rain falling on the River would stop the bird finding fish, so while it may have been close by, this moist mouse could not find it.

Again going back to when the Stork and or Egret was first spotted, at the time the weather forecasters were saying this was going to be a “Barbecue Summer”. This was said last year and the year before and just like those previous years, because of the changes that have already happened to our climate, we are getting sustained wet periods in Spring and Summer.

If it were that Climate Change was just going to bring nice things like Little Egrets, then I would be advocating an Energy Wasting Day, or Week or Month. But sadly the reality is that the Climate has Changed and and is already a factor in the decline of many bird species in Britain. With some species in decline of sixty percent or more from numbers twenty five years ago, and in recent years internationally important species failing to breed successfully here at all as a direct result of climate change, then on balance I wish that I had not seen the Little Egret (here) and that a changing climate was not happening.