Little Egret, Egretta garzetta

Local status: Increasing breeding species and migrant
Total records: 4 prior to 2006

This species has gone from being a genuine rarity in the UK to an increasingly common breeding resident and passage migrant in the last couple of decades. Breeding was suspected in 2014 and confirmed in 2015 when two pairs nested in the heronry near Wheldrake Ings and a pair nested in the south of the Lower Derwent Valley.

Little Egret © Terry Weston
Little Egret © Terry Weston

Records prior to 2006:
2005: Lower Derwent Valley, 11th July to 6th August. Two.
2004: Lower Derwent Valley, 4th to 12th September.
2003: Bank Island, 7th June.
2001: Thorganby, 21st and 23rd June.