Meeting "Big Bill"

Trevor Gunton sent us this article that he has written for "The Villager" magazine.

Great white egret meets a bittern on Weedy Pit.

My initial interest in the heron family of birds began many years ago in Yorkshire, both during and after the harsh 1962/3 Winter, one of the longest and coldest for about 100 years.  Bird populations crashed and even Bridlington Bay froze !  My survey of Yorkshire herons showed that at all sites numbers of breeding herons dropped dramatically, whilst some sites were abandoned and never to be reoccupied.  In contrast to this, last year’s “Beast from the East” had no detrimental effect on heron numbers across the UK.  During my time in Yorkshire I also studied heron standing grounds, usually situated on ploughed land close to the breeding site.  Traditionally, it was thought that these gatherings were used by young birds getting to know about local conditions, and possible breeding partners.  Little is known about this aspect of the heron’s lifestyle – and regretfully I had to end this work when we moved to Little Paxton in 1968.

Fortunately, my new home had a gravel pit heronry site on the edge of the village – amazing good luck for me !  In the early days this site held 25 nests in 1989, only to fall away to just single figures in recent years.  The reason for the decline at Paxton Pits is unknown, but it is known that there are a number of new sites – sometimes just 2/3 pairs have been established in the Fens.

Around St Neots, historically, there were breeding sites in Priory Park and Hemingford Park – but these have long since been abandoned.  Do cormorants have a detrimental effect on breeding herons ?  We do not know the answer to this.  In hard Winters, the cormorant numbers have been huge, peaking at 880 in January 1994, very much reduced in recent years.

Great white egret producing a pellet.

These are exciting times for heron enthusiasts locally as new species move in to enliven the birdwatching scene.  The attractive little egret has been around for over 20 years as a new breeding resident.  They have bred in the UK for nearly 30 years – along the South Coast, Wales, Kent and East Anglia.  Here at Little Paxton Nature Reserve we have seen them displaying and carrying sticks into the heronry area – but still no sign of nesting.  We wonder why ?

Last year we had another surprise when the larger relative of the little egret arrived at Paxton – this is in the form of the amazing great white egret – a previously very rare visitor from Europe.  They also have bred recently in East Anglia – so why not with us ?

Veronica and I have recently had a birdwatching holiday in Somerset where we found the great white egret more common than the little egret – also no less than 45 booming bitterns. Night heron and little bittern were also present on the Somerset Levels this year.

Back to Paxton- with the coming of Autumn be on the watch for our glorious white herons.  Last Autumn we recorded no less than 30 little egrets and 7 great white egrets on the same day.  Others to look out for are the cattle egrets – another invader from Southern Europe – now wintering and breeding in Southern Britain.  Bitterns also sometimes winter at Paxton Pits, so the prospects look good for the future, with lots more local wetlands being created in the Ouse and Nene valleys.
So, why go to Norfolk ?  Come to Paxton Pits this Autumn – you might be very surprised – and pleased by what you see !
TG July 2019