little egret info

[thebeard]

hello, there's been an influx of egrets into nottinghamshire over the past few weeks, why are they here at this time of year? Do they winter in england or are they passing through back down south? if so why didnt i see them going up??? quite strange as they seem to be here for a short time and then disappear again.

obviously theres a lot of autumn migration, at the moment waders and gulls are causing excitement over the county, but the egrets seem to be a bit of an odd one...

[Dogghound]

They breed in Southern England as well as in Europe its likely that these birds are either adults dispersing after breeding, or young dispersing after fledging. They do winter here from europe and these could be either european birds or british birds moving. Spring migration is often less obvious in species which winter here as they are much more direct in returning to their breeding grounds. We have alot of post breeding birds here at the moment.

[Elizabeth B]

There's lots of useful information on the RSPB website - click here for little egrets:

The RSPB: Little egret