We had just had a week of glorious sunshine and warm weather but for our Heron Watch event it was cold and grey with a cool damp breeze; not the best weather for this watch. Nonetheless there were lots of Little Egrets in the trees to see among the Herons and they were clearly nesting. But the Herons were well on with raising their next generation with some chicks still in their eggs, some a few days old and even some 3 or 4 weeks old meaning they were laid around the end of January! The Egrets on the other hand have only just started laying. How do we know all this? Because we have our wildlife cameras up and running on the islands. We have pictures and videos on our YouTube channel as well as on the news page of this website.
Like last year we set up at the recently rebuilt and rather splendid binocular leaning post on the canal side path complete with seat. (Thank you - Affinity Water.) We had the laptop with the pictures on a small table by the path with a video showing one of the Heron nests with chicks a few weeks old and another showing an Egret with eggs at its feet. Great for raising awareness and putting what we are doing before the wider public. It proved very popular and was especially useful for the children who find it hard to use a telescope. I think the most frequently asked question we had this year was from those looking at the laptop and asking if it was live (it wasn't) followed by how long is the incubation period for the Herons (about 27days) and how long to fledging (50 to 55 days from hatching).
Again we posted notices from the causeway and Peter Jenkins and I were able to show people a variety of nests with Herons on them plus lots of Little Egrets. There were a good few “ooh”s and “ah”s as they saw herons up close for the first time. Most were surprised that they were looking at the far side of the lake. We handed out quite a few recruitment leaflets. Let's hope we get some returns.
What else was about? To tell the truth we had little time to look. There were some small birds - Tits, Chaffinches, Wrens and Dunnock, flitting about whilst we were serenaded by Blackcaps and Cetti's Warbler now and again. The odd Red Kite flew over during the afternoon but unlike last year no Swallows or Martins but last year we held the watch in mid April. Rather sensibly the butterflies had taken shelter from the cold and sunless skies despite having been pretty prolific during the previous week. There were a scattering of ducks out on the lake (Tufted, Mallard, Shoveler). A pair of Egyptian Geese flew by as well as Coots, Moorhens, Great-crested Grebe, some Lesser Black-backed and numerous Black Headed Gulls in full breeding plumage. We saw Cormorants, Swans and Canada Geese (quite a few) during the afternoon.
A successful afternoon.
Dick Beeden