Cattle Egret at Stodmarsh

May 7th-8th 1992

David Feast

I first saw this bird on the Ox Bow scrape at 12.30 p.m. on May 7th. The bird was a small heron about the same size as a Little Egret, but with a shorter, thicker neck. The bill was much thicker than Little Egret, and yellow in colour. Through binoculars the bird looked all white, whilst through a telescope some buff markings on the top of the head, the breast and on the lower back were clearly visible. The legs were difficult to see in the tall vegetation, but on a few occasions I managed to get a glimpse of them, when they looked dark but with a small area of yellow at the top. I watched the bird catching insects for about 45 minutes, and it remained in the same general area until about 7.30 p.m. the following day.