Pale into significance
IDENTIFICATION books on British birds dating back a few decades seldom trouble themselves with the little egret. Into the 1980s, the chances of spotting its snow-white outline, perhaps hunched and motionless by the water’s edge in the classic heron family pose or awkwardly stepping through the muddy shallows like a man in oversized shoes, were slim. Yet, what a transformation in fortunes Egretta garzetta has experienced in the years since.
The first official record in England was of a bird shot in Yorkshire in 1826, but,
