05/11/2016 Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB

Cattle Egret: Today I decided not to go for either the Cliff Swallow that was found yesterday at Minsmere or Eyebrowed Thrush found in Northumberland and decided to be a good boyfriend and spend the day with Dawn.

Dawn wanted to go for a walk as it was a lovely, if a little cold, beautiful Autumnal day and I managed to convince her to spend the day with me on my old stomping grounds on the Dee Estuary.

We started at BMW where we spotted 5 Cattle Egret hanging around with their namesakes to the right of the visitor centre.

From here we went Harrier and Owl spotting at Burton point and Parkgate, disappointingly we didn't see any Owls but had a few female Hen Harriers.

Still, we cheered ourselves up by stopping off at Parkgate's fabulous chip shop for a spot of lunch!

15/05/2013 Llanfachraeth, Anglesey

Cattle Egret:  The day before my birthday and I already got my first birthday present, a superb Cattle Egret.

I arrived mid afternoon and spent around two hours staking out a farm field just off the main road heading north through the village with no sign of the bird.

The guys who were already there said they had just seen the bird and it had just dipped down in to a ditch. These birds, being famous for getting comfy in one place and standing still for long periods of time, encouraged me to wait and wait.....and wait!

I decided to go home, I was gutted. There was no sign of the bird all day and all I was thinking of was 'well that was a waste of petrol'.

And then I go and see it in a completely different field full of cattle, I quickly parked up and jumped out with a huge smile on my face. GET IN!


Thanks to Alan Davies and Scott for the extra info on where the bird was.