Since moving up to North Yorks many years ago — one animal has always fascinated me and eluded me locally: Otter. I have tracked them, found spraints and slides and heard many second hand accounts of them in the local area. However, just the other day I found, very sadly a mature dead female. What a beautiful animal she was. But this event starkly reminded me of the vulnerability of these beautiful animals to road traffic. So please, in rural areas where you may find Otters be aware of your surroundings and watch your speed to avoid casualties like this.
Over the weekend of 18th Oct I heard of a Great White Egret being seen very close to home; In fact it had been seen as early as 12th October. I have seen Little Egrets locally and admittedly I was a little dubious of the information. But pictures indeed showed a GWE on my local patch; what a brilliant local record!!!
So on Monday 21st October I set out to find the GWE !!!! A long walk down the south side of Pickering did not reveal any sign of the GWE but I did see Little Egret in the local cress beds. Then it started to rain, thoroughly soaked I began the slow walk back home and then BOOM one adult Great White Egret feeding in the fields shown in the photographs I saw at weekend!!!! What a cracking bird ………. so a very quick return home to get my camera and a race back in the car. I managed a few flight shots … and the lesson was learnt …… Always take your camera with you !!!!! Brilliant Local Patch Record and I never thought in a million years I would record record two egret species in a single day on my local patch
Local patch birding is always extremely rewarding and apart from the Egrets seen recently – 22nd Oct saw huge skeins of Pinkfooted Geese passing over the local Carrs easily 400+ birds. Also good numbers of Lapwing and Golden Plover were seen too : a sure sign that we are heading towards Winter!!
