Was not planning to go out today as it looked like more rain and didn’t fancy getting wet for a second day running.
At c10:30 I got a message from Alan to say he had found a Cattle Egret on a flood beside the Wallingford Road.
As I had not seen one before in Cholsey, I grabbed my kit and drove up there.
The bird had left the flood and had flipped over the road to a field with a herd of cattle next to Green Lane.
It stayed in the area for at least another hour and appeared then to have moved on.
Alan stayed on for a time and then found a Little Egret nearby plus c 40 Lapwing, a Goldcrest, Stonechat, Chiffchaff and Meadow Pipit.
All 3 Egret species have been seen in Cholsey this year. All have colonised the UK in the last few decades with breeding in Oxfordshire in the last few years.
They were all rarities in the UK 30-40 years ago hence trips to see Cattle Egret and Little Egret in Sussex in 1984 and 1987 respectively and Great Egret in Cornwall 1989.
Dragonflies: Southern Hawker and Common Darter.
6 photos from both Alan and me.
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