SOLWAY: Cattle Egret at Gatehouse of Fleet, Christmas Eve 2007.

Cattle Egret at Gatehouse of Fleet, Dufmries & Galloway 24 December 2007.

Yesterday evening I was feeling quite content with a full belly (gettng in practise for Christmas) when a text message came through: "Red-breasted Goose, Cummertrees, Dumfries & Galloway". Now I've seen a couple of these before in the UK but they are pretty smart and the thought of RBG on Christmas Eve on the Solway just had a nice ring about it so I set off up the M6 again this morning feeling quite optimistic. I took in the usual stop south of the border for the bacon butty and the dismal conditions meant that it was still pretty dark when I arrived at Cummertrees. The details had been pretty scant on the RBG - just "on the edge of town", or something like that, so I drove around a bit in search of geese. I wasn't until about 10 AM that a stack of Barnies started to arrive off the merse, presumably from the roost. I spent all morning sifting through them noting a few Pink-feet (20+) amongst them. A few Golden Plover, Pintail, Curlew and Oycs came into feed and Yellowhamers, a Bullfinch and a couple of Sparrowhawks were noted on the rounds.


Nearly midday and no sign of the RBG in the Cummertrees area so I started to search elsewhere. Whoopers around Ruthwell (80+) and 120+ Pink-feet near Bankend when the mobile bleeps again. Hot news! Cattle Egret near Gatehouse of Fleet! An hour later I'm teamed up with Pete & Ingrid Berry from Manchester (nice to meet you both) and watching the egret. I managed to get a few record shots in the poor light and the bird was a devil for hugging the vegetation-choked bank as well. A good D&G tick indeed.

Merry Xmas everyone!

Cattle Egret, Gatehouse of Fleet 24 December 2007.