Adventurous bird spreads its wings

Richard Collins on the arrival of the cattle egret on our shores.

IT’S 11 years since the little egret first bred in Ireland. Twelve pairs of these gleaming white birds, which had arrived from mainland Europe, began nesting in a heronry near Youghal. There were doubts at the time as to whether the colony would become permanent; little egrets don’t like the cold and a severe Irish winter could put a stop to their gallop. Soon, however, other colonies were established and these exotic birds are now a familiar sight on most Irish estuaries. They nest in every county along the coast from Louth to Kerry.

Egrets are members of the heron family. ‘Heron’, from the old German ‘Haigron’, may be an imitation of the bird’s harsh cry. Adding ‘ette’, as in ‘cockette’, gives ‘haigronette’, which shortens to ‘egret’.