From dip to Serendip

I should say straight away that we're not in Sri Lanka.

And no camels have been lost.*

On Monday last, whilst we were recce-ing a route for a survey (recounted here), a text alert popped up to say that a Cattle Egret had been seen less than five miles away. This small member of the heron family would be a lifer for Megan, for whilst it is a recent colonist of the British Isles, very few of them reach the north of Scotland, and consequently Megan had never seen one. Professional as ever, she opted to complete the recce and only then would we head east to try to see the egret.

As the name suggests, Cattle Egrets are often found in association with livestock and this particular individual was with a small herd of Aberdeen Angus. Unfortunately for us, the cattle were moved to a different field before we arrived on the scene, with the result that the bird had been spooked and disappeared. A few updates suggested that it was still in the area, but we couldn't match the description of the new site with an actual location. Oh well, not to worry, maybe next time.

Over the course of the week, reports suggested that the egret was still in the same locale, but not visible from a road or track. However not being manic twitchers, our threshold for defining a wild goose chase is quite low and we didn't fancy traipsing around just to dip again.

Come Saturday, and with a strong north westerly gale bringing frequent showers, going outside anywhere wasn't at the top of my agenda. That said, another rarity, this time from North America, had been seen at Marwick Loons and was reportedly showing well in front of a hide. This species was a Ring-necked Duck, which would be a lifer for both of us. Crucially, and this clinched the argument to go, the hide windows opened to the south east and we would be sheltered from the weather. Did I mention that we were rubbish twitchers?

Before we could set off, I received a work call requesting help with a tv problem. From the description of the fault, it sounded as though it could be solved with some judicious button pressing rather than anything drastic like going up a ladder, so although the village of Evie wasn't exactly on the way to Marwick Loons, I offered to go immediately as we were "just passing".

Our revised route took us close to the egret location so, more in hope than expectation, I detoured further along the A965 than we needed to, which is how Megan scored a lifer at 50mph. Serendipitously, the Cattle Egret was feeding at the side of a field which bordered the main road, unperturbed by passing traffic, and the sighting now rates as one of my best high speed birding encounters of all time.

You will hopefully forgive me for not taking photographs!

Fast forward an hour or so, the tv problem is fixed and we're ensconced in the Loons hide watching sunlight and squalls battle for supremacy of the landscape. The reed beds are by turns a seething swish of silver or a glowing golden wave. Flocks of Wigeon swirl nervously over a neighbouring field, as the birds keenly feel the need to feed, but are spooked by a quartering Hen Harrier. And we're glowing too, for there, in front of the hide is the Ring-necked Duck, unconcernedly foraging and preening, despite the weather, the avian predator and the chap to my left with the huge lens and machine-gun shutter clatter.

The view from the Loons hide

Hen Harrier passing right in front of the hide

Ring-necked Duck

On our way home, the light fell nicely upon a family of Whooper Swans in a stubble field at Skaill

* In another place, another time and another blog, I often made use of 'serendipitous' without ever thinking of where the word comes from.