RSPB Frampton Marsh 05/11 - Great White Egret

Paul French · **Posted:** Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:54 pm

Hi

Great White Egret - 1 this afternoon. Flew in from Witham Mouth direction at 15:40 and spent a little while on the wet grassland north of the road, then flew over the road and proceeded to show very well until dusk on Marsh Farm (the wet grassland south of the road, near the old car park).

Marsh Harrier - 3+ on the saltmarsh

PF.

Katherine Birkett · **Posted:** Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:47 pm

One day, I will be in the right place for that.... heavy sigh.... :roll:

Paul French · **Posted:** Thu Nov 05, 2009 7:40 pm

Its only taken me 4 years to be in the right place - and i still had to twitch it!

Katherine Birkett · **Posted:** Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:00 pm

July 2010 will be the 4th anniversary of my becoming a birder...

John Hague · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:08 am

I think you'll find Paul has been birding a bit more than 4 years. ;o) It is probably his first GWE at Frampton in 4 years.

Paul French · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:38 am

John Hague wrote:

I think you'll find Paul has been birding a bit more than 4 years. ;o) It is probably his first GWE at Frampton in 4 years.

Certainly have

Great White Egret reported again early morning (Fri 06/11), but flew onto the saltmarsh and lost to view in the mist. Probably still in the area though.

Andrew Chick · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:23 pm

I have a feeling that there has been a Great White Egret in the area for sometime, being reported from Wash Boat Trips etc... If this is the case, it is amazing that such a big bird can disappear for such long lengths of time...

Andrew

Katherine Birkett · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:56 pm

John Hague wrote:

I think you'll find Paul has been birding a bit more than 4 years. ;o) It is probably his first GWE at Frampton in 4 years.

My understanding of what he said was that he'd been wanting to see a GWE for four years, sorry...

Kev Wilson · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:55 pm

I wonder how the Frampton sighting ties in with the Gib sighting - good chance it was the same bird ?

Kev

John Harry · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:39 pm

Could there be a chance its been inland like the recent Kirkby sightings, then it picked up the River Witham to Boston??

Paul French · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:57 pm

My guess (and its only a guess!) is that this bird has been around the Wash/Gib area for a while now, as its been seen very occasionally over the last few weeks. The first sighting was of two together, so if they split up, maybe one headed inland up the Witham and then the Bain and the other stuck around. On the other hand, this has been a good autumn for G W Egret nationally, so there could be multiple birds.

Paul French · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:38 pm

achick wrote:

I have a feeling that there has been a Great White Egret in the area for sometime, being reported from Wash Boat Trips etc... If this is the case, it is amazing that such a big bird can disappear for such long lengths of time...

Andrew

Yes, it just goes to show how underwatched the Wash is. A handful of regular birders and 300,000 birds makes for a lot of under-recording. And the large amount of deep creeks meandering across the marshes can easily hide big birds.

John Hague · **Posted:** Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:47 pm

We probably have had one wandering around Leicestershire for a while now. It keeps popping up and then disappearing.

As you say with poor coverage of a very large part of the potential area they can go missing for ages. Not as obliging as their smaller cousins.

The Lincolnshire Bird Club

RSPB Frampton Marsh 05/11 - Great White Egret

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