Great white egret in Hertfordshire, UK (1 Viewer)

I went for a walk earlier in a park in my town in eastern Hertfordshire and could only see common birds such as magpies, woodpigeons, a couple of robins etc...then I walked alongside a stream/small river with vegetation on both sides and a patch of trees and undergrowth on the other side to me (or possibly on a small island - I can't remember now). I stopped and looked, then lo and behold a grey heron and a great white egret both took off from among the trees and flew off.

I don't have a picture I'm afraid, because I was so surprised to see the egret (and it was flying away from me) I didn't have time to get my camera out. But I can absolutely swear that it was a great white egret, although they're rare visitors to the UK. It was the same size as the grey heron so definitely wasn't a little egret, and I don't think it was a leucistic grey heron, either. I've watched this video http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-little-egret-and-great-white-egret to be sure.

Great find, Triplet! :t: :king:

There are quite a few Great White Egrets around the area at the moment: Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and a few in Northamptonshire.

But, oddly enough, there doesn't appear to have been a single record in Hertfordshire this year (or winter even), so I would strongly suggest (if you are sure it was a Great White) you forward the relevant information to the county bird recorder, by quickly filling in the form below:

http://www.hnhs.org/birds/recordssubmission.php

This way if it's still in the area, some more people might be able to see it - Certainly those looking for a rare opportunity to add one onto their Herts lists.

Thanks, Shore Lark! And sorry for not replying sooner - totally forgot that I hadn't. I took your advice and filled in the online form you gave.

Aside from size, foot colour (and leg length) would be the most importamt features to get on a bird flying away from you ...