Pale into significance

More than 130 years ago, fears over the little egret’s fate–and our obsession with its plumed feathers– helped to form the RSPB. Now, this exotic migrant is making a comeback, reports Jack Watkins

- Jack Watkins

IDENTIFICATION books on British birds dating back a few decades seldom trouble themselves with the little egret. Into the 1980s, the chances of spotting its snow-white outline, perhaps hunched and motionless by the water’s edge in the classic heron family pose or awkwardly stepping through the muddy shallows like a man in oversized shoes, were slim. Yet, what a transformation in fortunes Egretta garzetta has experienced in the years since.

The first official record in England was of a bird shot in Yorkshire in 1826, but, as recently as 1960, the total number recorded amounted to only 33. Today, the total British breeding population, according to the British Trust for Ornithology, is about 11,000 nesting pairs, with the total swelling to more than 12,000 in winter, when they are joined by migrants mainly flying in from southern Europe and northern Africa. In an age of declining avifauna populations, the little egret is one of the few with something to shout about.