Local Purple Heron, Ardea purpurea

Back in June, we enjoyed seeing a lot of birds, butterflies, and moths in Greece. Many, if not most, of those were species rarely, if ever, seen in the UK. One bird we had a shout out from our skipper on Lake Kerkini was the Purple Heron, Ardea purpurea. I must confess I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo on the boat trip and not entirely sure I actually saw it among the Squacco and Night Herons that were in the reed as we rippled past.

Anyway, I was out looking for Bearded Reedlings at RSPB Ouse Fen (Earith), there were lots. A Bittern came up from the reeds briefly and ducked back down, as they do. There were also four Great White Egrets flying about. But, it was the odd-looking heron in the distance that was the most intriguing…it definitely wasn’t another Bittern, but didn’t look quite right for a Grey Heron.

When I got back to base camp, I checked the photos. It was obvious on zooming in on the photo Purple Heron, Ardea purpurea. Juvenile. The species is smaller and more slender than the Grey Heron, markings are different, and overall it has darker plumage. The species is more commonly found in Africa, central and southern Europe. However, juveniles do occasionally spread their wings from the near Continent between August and October and end up in East Anglia and beyond.

Mrs Sciencebase remembered there had been reports of that species earlier in the year locally. I checked on Birdguides and she was right, there had been one here back in the summer of 2023 and a scattering of others over the last few years. Indeed, earliest Birdguides record I can see on the app is summer 2003 at Needingworth (which is now part of RSPB Ouse Fen).

Looking at the national sightings on the app, I can see sightings of Purple Heron in Somerset, Shropshire, Norfolk, Devon, Suffolk, Jersey during September and October.

This is one of my natural highlights of 2024. I will give you a full update of those on New Year’s Eve!