0 Comments | Northern Echo, Jul 29, 2010 | by Brian Unwin
EARLIER this month there was mention on the Teesmouth Bird Club website that coloured rings on the legs of some little egrets seen locally indicated they were recently fledged youngsters from a Norfolk colony.
As distinguished North birder Dave Britton, who supplied the information, commented, it is fascinating that soon after gaining flight ability, they flew almost 200 miles northwards. Could this, I wonder, be a more widespread tendency, explaining perhaps the remarkable expansion of this species’ European range from its original Mediterranean haunts over the past half century (including the colonisation of Britain since the mid-1990s)?
If these small white herons suffered setbacks during last winter’s freeze-up, they’re certainly showing early signs of bounce- back. This week one has been at pools at both Houghton Gate and the former Lambton Cokeworks site in the Bournmoor/Shiney Row area west of Sunderland, and two at Shibdon Pond, Blaydon. I don’t think the species has visited any of these sites before.
Meanwhile, reports indicate at least eight – possibly more – at Teesmouth and in Northumberland, four were at Low Newton by the Sea, on Sunday, a day after two were at both Budle Bay and Longhirst Flash, near Ashington, and one at Alnmouth. Some sightings probably involved the same birds moving around but there’s still a strong sense of this one-time rarity becoming more widespread.
Meanwhile, sea-watching is gathering pace, with almost daily sightings of sooty shearwaters, on the northern leg of their incredible annual odysseys which start in the southern oceans where they breed
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