Handsome bird, so egret to please

IS it to be another invasion of egrets, this time the cattle egret, a small, white heron, not quite as pretty as its cousin, the now familiar little egret, but pretty nonetheless?

Every time I go walking along coasts or river banks of west Cork, I see little egrets. One recent Sunday, we walked the circuit of Inchydoney Island —famous for Fianna Fáil conference-men in suits posing for photos on windy beaches — and saw five little egrets standing in a lagoon.

In the early 1990s, they began to arrive in increasing numbers from France and the Netherlands and established a breeding colony on the Blackwater outside Youghal in 1997. Since then, the species has established new colonies at sites on the west Cork coast and elsewhere.

They are very pretty, very striking additions to the list of resident Irish birds and it seems possible that the cattle egrets will be another. It is hard to distinguish between the two but the latter is marginally less elegant. Its neck is shorter and is often drawn down into the shoulders so that it does not have the same graceful profile as the little egret, with its long neck, black bill, long black legs and lemon-yellow feet. Nevertheless, it is a handsome bird with the feathers of the crown, breast and mantle buff pink in the breeding season and the legs red rather than the usual dark green. At all times of the year, there is a hint of buff on the head and breast and this, combined with a yellow rather than black bill, will confirm it is the new species.

A small white heron seen amongst cattle doesn’t necessarily make it a cattle egret. Little egrets may also be seen in bovine company, although they don’t often hitch a ride on an animal’s back, like their ‘cowboy’ cousins. They remove ticks and other parasites and feed on the insects stirred up by the movement of the herd and attracted by the dung.

The fact that such pickings are not readily available in Ireland during winter, now that herds are often kept in sheds, could be an impediment to their colonisation. Milder winters may result in more cattle wintering in the fields, as well as encouraging the birds continuing advance northward. This year, some twenty two cattle egrets were identified in west Cork alone in the first two weeks. Some roosted with a flock of thirty little egrets at a site on Clonakilty Bay and fed at nearby Cloheen Marsh, following the horses that graze there all winter. Others, in Kerry and elsewhere, found small herds of cattle in sheltered inland fields. Roosting alongside their Irish-born cousins is a good survival strategy. The locals know the ground and where they chose to sleep is likely to be safe.

When the little egret first came to Ireland, it made its nests in heron rookeries, and still does at many sites. The ‘invasion’ did not displace the grey heron or threaten its food sources or habitat. The diet of both includes frogs, small fish, crabs and marine worms but I cannot see a little or cattle Egret stabbing and swallowing a fully grown rat, a regular item on heron menus.

The end of last week brought the first hint of spring. In the warm, yellow sun, the sandbanks of the estuary glistened with acres of white cockle shells.

On the evidence of the millions of empty shells to be seen, one must assume there are as many live specimens under the sand. With this in mind, I feel I’m not disturbing nature’s balance or robbing the oystercatchers of their dinner when I fill my pocket with the bounty now and then. I can’t resist wild food: blackberries, whorts, mushrooms, hazelnuts, I bring it home. My wife who, like every man’s wife, is the best cook in Ireland will, tonight, add my offerings to a delicious seafood soup.