I didn’t get out until quite late, today, and headed down to Tanholt Pits in search of waders etc. The best I got was close by from a male Marsh Harrier and a couple of juvenile Little Ringed Plovers. So, I abandoned the pits and went north to Deeping Lakes. I went via the Deeping High Bank (road alongside the River Welland), in the hope of seeing a Great White Egret reported there, earlier. No luck.
A quick scan of the east pit at DLLWT revealed the ‘usual suspects’. But as I reached the central ‘Rock Island’, there was a Cattle Egret standing there doing nothing in particular! Alas, as I reached for my phone to put the news out, it disappeared! Twenty minutes later, I explored the raised grassy banks of the nearby Welland to see if it had joined any sheep, cattle or horses there. No sign.
But as I drove back along the track to the east screen I noted an egret flying west. It was the Cattle, and it was heading towards The Lake. The first birders to come to see the egret (my friends Bob and Sue) were a few minutes too late, but as I went off home, the continued west and later reported the Cattle Egret in a pre-roost gathering with Little Egrets, beside The Lake. I wonder if it will reappear for a longer stay as previous CEs have.
This was the third Cattle Egret I have ‘found’ in the Peterborough area and the third I have seen at Deeping Lakes.
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