Little egret spotted at Aberglasney
Sharp-eyed bird lovers may spot an unexpected migrant visiting Aberglasney gardens this winter.
A little egret, a small heron, usually found on the Continent, was spied by gardeners as it made its way through the stream garden at Pigeon House Wood at Aberglasney.
The delicate looking white bird was once a rare visitor to the UK and is easily distinguishable with its black legs and bill and highly conspicuous yellow feet.
took this photo in wetlands near Llanelli:
The species first appeared in the UK in significant numbers in 1989 and first bred in Dorset in 1996. Little Egrets bred in Wales for the first time in 2002 and have seen the largest increase in overall UK population in the past decade.
One possible explanation may be the run of noticeably mild winter in britain, extending the northern limit of the traditional range of the egret.
Aberglasney's director of operations - Graham Rankin, spotted the bird during his daily stroll through the gardens.
He said: "Aberglasney is well known for its wide variety of wildlife from tulip eating water voles, otters that eat the fish and eels from the pool and migrant birds such as the spotted flycatcher and redstart. Now we can add the Little Egret to the list".
"I first saw Little Egrets at the National Wetlands Centre at Penclacwydd, and last summer on the edge of the Laugharne Estuary but I didn't expect to see one in the gardens at Aberglasney."
Meanwhile at Manorbier beach in Pembrokshire, Joysaphine from our Flickr group spotted another little egret flying over head recently.
Comment number 1.
At 6th Feb 2010, Rapturiana wrote:[I observed the following web bit not so long ago. Rapturiana]
BIRDS NEED HELP TOO !
Here in MitcHELL County, Kansas almost no one seems to care if our songbirds are frightened and fly away whenever a vehicle with a noisy muffler or boombox speeds by. As soon as the noisy lowlifes can be heard approaching while blocks away, I tell my neighbor that we're hearing the mating calls of the (unfortunately not endangered) MitcHELL County "horny birds"! But it really isn't funny and we've noticed that it's basically the ugliest kids who are the noisiest - the only way they can attract flighty females. Let's hear no more talk about "Kansas values"! Would love to hear some reactions to this. Almost desperate, Karl (in Karl's Kastle)
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Comment number 2.
At 13th Apr 2010, Rapturiana wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 3.
At 14th Apr 2010, joy wrote:oooohhhhh excited. I saw a little egret in Manorbier - all on its own near the beach but as I got near it flew off so I only managed the one picture of it. This was back in January and I was amazed to see it.
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