Eyes to the skies

Five of Britain’s most beautiful birds to look for on a walk (not on a hat)

EGRET

Britain has a disputed history with the little egret; some think it was here centuries ago, even featuring as part of the feast at Henry V’s coronation in 1413, while others think it a new arrival moving northwards from mainland Europe as the climate changes. Either way, numbers of this pretty white heron are now on the rise, particularly in the south and east of England, with sightings of the great white egret increasing too. Both species grow the delicate breeding plumage that made them so prized by milliners – look for it in spring.

GREAT CRESTED GREBE

These waterbirds faced a double threat: their feathers were sought for hats and their soft skin as an alternative to mammal fur in muffs and boas. Brought to the brink of national extinction, they can now be seen again on larger lakes and reservoirs (they need a long run-up to get airborne) and around the coast in winter. Their courting ritual is famously elaborate, as they meet face to face, fluffing their crests and shaking their heads at each other, before diving for weed and rearing up vertically like mirror-image synchronised swimmers.

KINGFISHER

No British bird has more colourful plumage than the kingfisher, and few are more elusive: most sightings are a vanishing streak of blue as they flash past. In fact, listening is the best way to spot one as they pipe a sharp chee in flight. If you’re lucky enough to see one perched on a branch ready to dive for fish, you can study the two-tone electric hues of its back and the bright copper of its breast. Drawn to slow-flowing rivers, lakes, canals and even coasts in winter, they’re found across much of Britain, although less commonly in Scotland.

KITTIWAKE

These little gulls spend the winters out at sea before heading to airy ledges on cliffs around Britain to breed. Hundreds of thousands nest here between February and August and the sound of their distinctive kitti-wake calls can be cacophonous.

Silver-grey on the back and white underneath, their wing-tips look as if they’ve been dipped in black ink. Now protected from feather hunters, its populations are still in decline in some places – it’s thought because of a lack of the sandeels they eat, or possibly by predation by great skuas.

PHEASANT

Spotting one of these can be a heartpounding experience as they like to erupt in a croaking whirl of wings from the undergrowth. The female is a speckled buff, but the male wears jewel tones of red, green, chestnut.

The species is native to Asia, but is now bred here as a game bird: 30 million are raised in captivity each year and released for shooting. The sport is a double-edged sword for native wildlife: it’s led to the protection of woodland habitats pheasants prefer, but

also to persecution of its potential predators like foxes and birds of prey.