Spoonbill    Platalea leucorodia

An unusual visitor to Britain, but this one seems to like to take its summer holiday at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire each year. 

Great white egret    Ardea alba

An elegant but rare visitor to Britain. 

Purple heron    Ardea purpurea (D)

Another rare but regular visitor to Britain, often to be found skulking by canals and lakes with a good cover of vegetation.

This one appeared near my home in Leicester and was very difficult to photograph.

Cattle egret    Bubulcus ibis

Cattle Egrets are turning up everywhere, including close to my home in Gloucestershire.

Still regarded as rare, they are extremely common on mainland Europe and around the world.

Little egret    Egretta garzetta

Ditto the above for cattle Egret, but in the Little Egret's case they have been in the UK for many years now and are perhaps now considered a fairly common bird.

It's the yellow feet that really gives their identification away.

This is a photograph of a Little Egret hunting.

Heron portrait with fish                                                                                                                   Heron 04

Heron 03                                                                                                                                       Heron 08

Grey heron    Ardea cinerea (D)

The original British heron, the Heron patrols its patch of riverbank waiting motionless for fish to pass by.  They are nervous birds with keen eyesight and therefore very difficult to photograph (they've been in Britain long enough to learn about the British love for wildlife crime and persecution!).  I suspect they have been mainly persecuted for centuries by fisherman who are jealous about the Heron's superior skills at catching fish!

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