Saturday was a beautiful blue sky day so we thought the clear skies might improve the light conditions at Ballachurry as dusk fell. We returned to the reserve just before 4 o'clock hoping to have better views of the Snipe and the Water Rails. As my husband shut the hide door behind us I opened the shutters only to see a dazzlingly white bird flying straight towards me. It landed in the weed right in front of the hide and I realised with a thrill that it was a Little Egret! I have long hoped that an Egret might find its way to the Reserve and suddenly my wish was granted! We watched for about half an hour as it walked along the edge of the pond, stirring up the mud with its feet to disturb good things to eat.
We have never had a full survey done of the aquatic life at Ballachurry but the creatures that are seen there most are freshwater shrimps. My RSPB book tells me that Little Egrets eat small fish, frogs and snails and this one was certainly finding plenty to eat in the shallows. It eventually flew to a different part of the pond but seemed to take fright on touchdown and hurriedly took off again and left the reserve.
Shortly afterwards we heard two Water Rails calling - one from each side of the pond - and there was certainly one visible ( just!) at the back of the pond. Then the Snipe began to come in as during the previous evening, but by now it was so dark as to be almost impossible to see them. Perhaps they delayed coming in that evening because the Egret was there,who knows?
The Little Egret is a new record for the Reserve and I really hope it becomes a regular visitor.
I took lots photos of the Little Egret both with my Bridge camera and with my mobile phone but I'll limit them here to just 4 and a couple of videos - look out for the paddling feet disturbing the mud.
SC209694 Little Egret; 7 x Snipe; 2 x Water Rail
An hour very well spent in the bird hide!
Please click on the photos to enlarge them.
