Well, that didn’t take long! In a matter of days we saw our Cattle Egret flock rise from four, to eleven to twenty today. This is a massive total and again breaks a Poole Harbour record. Surely this ‘irruption/colonising’ of Cattle Egret over the last couple of years here in southern Britain will see a breeding population big to grow? A pair did breed at the Little Egret colony last year but now with probably over 70 (or close to) Cattle Egret currently in the county it makes a good basis for a decent colony to begin. In Poole Park the drake Mandarin was popular again, giving views down to about 6 inches as it fed from peoples hands!!! There were also 3 Goldeneye still on the main boating lake too and 3 Sandwich Tern were roosting the reed islands. At Little Sea, Studland there were now 2 Great White Egret which lays to rest the question of how many there are currently in the harbour…well, around the Studland peninsular anyway. There could be others hanging around the Wareham Channel/Middlebere area. There were also 2 redhead Goosander still on Little Sea. Tonight, amongst the whizz and pops of brightly coloured fireworks there was a good passage of Redwing and Song Thrush going over. We wonder if any get caught in the crossfire?

Two of twenty Cattle Egret at Bestwall, near Wareham – Gordon Mutton