Little egret makes 2,000km journey to escape harsh Irish winter

January 2011: The colonisation of little egrets to Ireland and their subsequent successful spread across the country has thrilled birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts for the past 20 years.

NEW SCHEME: The easily readable tags are making it easy for bird-watchers to follow the little egrets'  progress. Picture: John Lusby

Now a colour-ringing scheme in Galway is providing further fascinating insights into the movements of these birds from their natal colonies.

From a total of 40 birds that have been fitted with colour rings over the past two years, there have already been 12 re-sightings reported from birdwatchers around the country. The most impressive journey, has been that of a little egret which was ringed by BirdWatch Ireland staff member John Lusby in its nest last summer in Galway Bay and which was subsequently spotted by a Finnish birder in the Azores in Portugal in October, a trip of 2,133km! Given the extreme winter weather we experienced this was probably a wise move.

Breeding confirmed in Ireland in 1997
John Lusby notes that: ‘The little egret situation in Ireland is incredibly interesting. Breeding was only confirmed for the first time in 1997, but since then the population has thrived and their numbers and range are continuing to increase.

'The Bird Atlas is showing us just how quickly birds are gaining a foothold in different parts of the country with new colonies being discovered every year. Until we started this colour ringing scheme, however, it was impossible to monitor the movements of individual birds and it is quite remarkable that our birds are travelling as far as the Azores.'

Keep a look out when you're on holiday
This work will continue during 2011, so please keep a look out for any colour ringed egrets and report sightings to John Lusby at jlusby@birdwatchireland.ie or Chris Benson at Illaune@eircom.net. Each bird has two colour rings, a black darvic with a letter above the left knee and a yellow darvic with a letter/number above the right knee. The position of these rings makes them fairly easy to see and read, so careful scrutiny of any little egrets that you come across, either here or on holiday abroad, might result in one of the birds being located. All sightings will be acknowledged and a detailed history of the bird's previous movements will be provided.