3 CATTLE EGRET

Even a decade ago, it would have seemed far fetched to suggest going out in January to add Cattle Egret to your UK year list. But times have changed, and we are living in an era when autumn roosting flocks of more than 100 birds have been recorded in the south-west of England. Cattle Egrets, like Little Egrets (and to a lesser extent Great White Egrets) before them, are becoming established parts of the British avifauna. Slightly smaller and chunkier than Little Egrets and with a shorter, thicker, orange bill, Cattle Egrets are most often seen in association with livestock (cattle and sheep, mainly). They benefit from the insects associated with the mammals and their droppings, as well as from the disturbance of the ground revealing ‘egret food’.