Radipole Lake RSPB Reserve
Friday December 14th 2018
Just a few years ago I coukd count the number of Great White Egrets I had seen on the fingers of one hand, but in the last five or so years they have bcome a regular feature at Lodmoor, and recently Radipole.
This one was at Lodmoor last year.
One of the first ones I ever saw at Raipole was in May 2008. This was a very unusual bird as it had a black bill instead of a yellow one. For years I wondered whether this could be explained by the bird being in its breeding plumage. At the time the species did not breed in the UK so to be in this plumage it must have recently flown over from Europe. Then last year I visited Hamm Wall in Somerset where Great White Egrets do breed. All the Great Whites there had black bills just like this bird!
