Winners - 1. Little Egret

This is the first in an occasional series looking at bird species that have fared well - and those not so well - across the uberpatch over the last 50-odd years.

When I began birding in 1974 there had been under 200 Little Egrets recorded in Great Britain and Ireland and at that time this total had only recently been bumped up by the unprecedented numbers recorded during what was referred to as an invasion in 1970, which appeared to be very much an anomaly. Out of those records the Surrey contribution was a big fat zero. (It is worth mentioning that an excavation at a site in Southwark - part of the VC17 recording area - had discovered remains of this species dating back to 1500-1700 AD. It would have taken some juggling of the concept of time for a 1974 vintage birder to have been able to claim that one on their county list.) Needless to say, the idea that I might see a Little Egret at all, let alone in my home county of Surrey, was very small indeed. It is hard to appreciate that this smallish white heron was such a rarity back then.

It was not until 1977 that I saw my first Little Egret anywhere (Stodmarsh, Kent) and only in 1990 that the species was first seen in Surrey (by the Beddington SF crew, who and where else?) Once that had happened then we were all on high alert to find the next county record - I can clearly recall a visit to Holmethorpe shortly afterwards when my first scan across the flooded fields revealed what was surely a Little Egret over the far side, brilliant white, its feathers ruffled in the wind. I was crestfallen when, looking through my telescope, the Egret revealed itself to be a large plastic bag. My personal first Surrey Little Egret was rather slow in coming - 22 April 2007 - with a bird loitering on The Moors at Holmethorpe. It was never the less still a scarce bird. I saw singles at the same location on 4 May 2008 and 3 January 2009 before then starting to see egrets with some regularity in the same area, counts reaching the dizzy heights of three on 26 April 2009. After a few years away from Beddington SF, my return there in 2010 was rewarded with a Little Egret patch tick and random sightings of 1-2 birds following on. By 2015 birds started to be easily observed along the River Hogsmill in Ewell where they became so used to the people walking the footpaths along the river that they were vaguely tame - both the close up images used here are from that very site. It was still a jolt to the senses to flush a hidden bird from the streams or realise that there was one sitting up in the riverside trees observing you.

The River Mole was another site that began to attract them at about the same time as at Ewell. The section between Leatherhead and Westhumble was best, and breeding soon followed along the woodland edge of Norbury Park that overlooks that river valley. Hidden from view, the birds could be heard uttering their strange cries from some way off. The fields of the adjacent Cowslip Farm often had egrets feeding in them or all perched up in one of the dead trees. It could be quite disconcerting at times when as many as 20 Little Egrets were in foraging with the herd of cattle, hopes of a Cattle Egret dashed after a scan through with the optics. I'm mindful not to dismiss a group of grazing egrets in this area as 'just the usual Littles'... 

The course of the River Mole through the uberpatch is a natural flyway for the egrets and any prolonged skywatch from Box Hill, Colley Hill or Denbies Hillside would pick up birds commuting between roosts and feeding grounds. Away from these hot-spots they can still be seen albeit less frequently, these birds more likely to be on the move - with singles overflying Priest Hill, Nonsuch Park and Banstead, plus a group of seven heading south-east over Banstead on the morning of 7 October 2021 being prime examples. And it is not unusual to see birds leave the downs and head purposefully high and south across the weald.

What of other egret species? Great White Egret was an absolute screaming rarity in 1974, when two wide-ranging individuals were added to the 10 previous records. As for Cattle Egret, early records in the 20th century were often regarded with some suspicion of being escapes (this species being kept in captivity) with the 14 records between 1958-72 treated more positively. It was a species on the move however, with colonisation of the Americas a recent phenomena. And now? Both Great and Cattle Egrets are breeding species in Great Britain and have long lost their rarity status although it is still a delight to come across them, especially if you bird an inland county such as Surrey. The photograph below illustrates my favourite Surrey encounter with Great White Egret, of the two birds that flew northwards over my head at the top of Colley Hill on 4 October 2024. I had watched them arrive from the south, at first as tiny white dots that were way out over the Weald, continuing up and over the downs, away to who knew where.