Nature reserve counts 'record number' of egrets

A "record number" of egrets have been recorded at a West Yorkshire nature reserve, with one species successfully breeding for the first time in the site's history.

At Fairburn Ings, near Castleford, cattle egret bred for the first known time in Yorkshire last year, the RSPB said, fledging three young.

Lydia Tague, reserve manager, said the spread of these "once-rare visitors" marked a major shift in the region's birdlife.

"These birds, until recently seldom seen as far north as Yorkshire, are now calling Fairburn home and we've never seen them is such good numbers," she said.

"We're hoping they will breed again this year, and the great white egrets might breed here for the first time this year too."

The reserve said it regularly saw 12-17 cattle egrets and six great white egrets last winter.

Cattle egret are white plumed birds that often follow cattle around, feeding on the insects they disturb.

The birds were rarely seen at Fairburn Ings until about five years ago, the RSPB said, when conservationists and birders started spotting them more regularly.

The reserve suggested it could partly be the result of global warming, with the birds moving further northwards away from warmer temperate and tropical countries.

Karen Swaffield, RSPB warden, said: "We watched the cattle egrets acquiring their beautiful breeding plumage and noticed the eye of one turning red, which they do just before they breed.

"It's wonderful that we had two pairs of nesting cattle egret and that they successfully managed to fledge three young."

The first spoonbills recently returned to Fairburn Ings, with black-headed gulls beginning to arrive at the neighbouring St Aidan's reserve.

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