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...