A beautiful sunny day on November 1st and so we headed off up the A38 to Teigngrace near Newton Abbot to look for the 2 cattle egrets reported in the area with some little egrets. However as we neared Rattery we drove in to low cloud and mist and murk which hung around for our walk but at least it didn't rain.
Arriving at the flooded field by the road near Teigngrace as per Birdguides/Devon BWPS instructions and there was a flock of 16 egrets feeding in the waterlogged grass. Scanning through them I quickly found the 2 cattle egrets with their yellow bills and chunky build standing out as they fed alongside the little egrets. However on rechecking through the egrets I found another cattle egret amongst them - so actually 3 cattle egrets present with 13 little egrets in total.
Distant Cattle Egret in the Murk
Cattle Egret
Little Egret and Cattle Egret
Two Cattle Egret with Sheep
We drove onwards to nearby Stover for a walk where a grey heron, 2 female pochard, 5 male and a female tufted duck, a very noisey adult lesser black backed gull and a female sparrowhawk swooping in at the bird feeders were the highlights.
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Lunch at The Brookside Cafe at Bovey Tracey was delicious (the toffee and almond pavlova was to die for) and then a drive home saw us enjoying lovely sunshine again as we left the cloud and murk behind near Rattery - typical!
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