I’m not sure anyone can live a full life without having one or two small regrets, but I certainly hope that the number of regrets I encounter in my life never reach the number of egrets that frequent Arne in Dorset.
Continuing on from My 40th at Arne Sika Deer post, the second most noticeable species here is the little egret and I don’t think I’ve ever seen quite so many in one place before. They were everywhere.
I think the first time I saw Egrets would have been in the South of France when I was 18. I certainly don’t remember seeing them in the UK until much later, in fact I spotted spoonbills in Norfolk before I saw my first UK little egret.
Today, egrets seem to be becoming more and more common. While the sight of that brilliant white, yellow footed, cautious stalker on our local patches can still spark a jolt of excitement, the truth is, if you know the local waters well enough, it shouldn’t take too much trouble to spot one. The numbers in Arne, however, were off the charts on our visits.
Unlike the spoonbills in the area, who seemed to forage in gangs, swaggering in the haze like a posse in a spaghetti western. The little egrets however seemed to prefer a more solitary existence and were relatively intolerant of their kin.
The more I looked, the more I saw. Stalking, standing, flying. Hunting or chilling, round every bend, beyond each horizon… Egrets, everywhere…