Britain's bird of the year in 2008 may turn out to be a beautiful white heron whose original home was Africa. The cattle egret, which has been spreading steadily northwards through Europe, perhaps because of climate change, is thought to be on the point of colonising southern England. This winter, so many of the birds are present along coasts in the south and west that breeding is thought likely to happen soon, not least because the process appears to be a replica of colonisation by a closely related species, the little egret, in the mid-1990s.
From being a rare vagrant which delighted birdwatchers, little egrets began to arrive in substantial numbers on the south coast, and in 1996 a pair bred for the first time in Britain in the heronry on Brownsea Island in Poole harbour, Dorset. Their population has doubled every year since and Britain now has several hundred breeding pairs. Birdwatchers and ornithologists alike think the cattle egret may be about to do the same.
Cornwall has been the main centre of sightings this winter, with as many as 18 birds seen together at Drift reservoir near Penzance, and up to 15 more at another 20 locations, including sites in Devon and Dorset. "The recent arrivals of large numbers of cattle egrets into southern Britain has renewed optimism that this bird may nest successfully this year, somewhere in England, for the first time," said Graham Madge, a spokesman for the RSPB.
"Cattle egrets are one of a number of species thought likely to nest here in future as our climate becomes milder," said Mark Grantham of the British Trust for Ornithology. "So many have arrived recently the prospect has become stronger but, because they nest communally, it will probably only happen if sufficient gather in a location suitable for a colony."
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http://environment.independent.co.uk/nature/article3315034.ece
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