Whelford Purple Heron

An unusually showy juvenile Purple Heron had taken up residence just over the border from Oxfordshire at Whelford Pool Nature Reserve in Gloucestershire. Unlike our Grey Heron, this continental species normally skulks deep in reedbeds and is usually very hard to see. Indeed I've only seen one once before, at Otmoor here in Oxon where after a stake-out for a while I got flight views for a minute or so. From various blog posts (e.g. Black Audi Birding) the Whelford bird was uncharacteristically easy to see, coming out and feeding close to a hide at regular intervals. Having not been out on a decent birding trip for quite a while, I was feeling like having a sortie of some sorts and this seemed an obvious target. So it was that last Sunday morning I fired up the Gnome-mobile and set off on the 40 minute drive to Whelford.

I arrived at just before 9 a.m. to find the small car park completely full so had to resort to parking down the road by a small side road. The short walk to the hide found it completely rammed. No doubt the sunshine had brought all the toggers out for this obliging subject. I managed to squeeze in the last available standing space by the door and tentatively enquired about the bird, to be told that it had gone into the reedbed on the left but that it should be out again in a while. 

In the hide I met with NT (of Old Caley's Diary blog) and his wife and also spotted MC at the far end (of The Early Birder blog). Shortly after my arrival a few people left and I was able to get a seat at the front. This gave me a chance to survey the scene properly. In front of us was an area of cut reeds going down about 30 metres to the lake shoreline. There were some reeds on either side of this cleared space but it was a relatively modest sized area. This meant that there was less area for a Purple Heron to hide, though by all accounts this bird wasn't shy about coming out into the open to feed. Out beyond the reeds was a large lake on which were scattered various diving ducks. The site is part of the Cotswold Water Park complex of gravel pits so there are hundreds of water bodies in the general area. Thankfully the Heron seemed fairly loyal to this one spot. The twitch arena was rather gloomy, being completely in shade.

The view from the hide

After perhaps half an hour or so suddenly photographers started papping away furiously at the far end of the hide. The Purple Heron must have come out of the reeds! The area was partially obscured where I was sitting but through the tops of the reeds I could make out the Heron, it's striking yellow eye and orangey bill showing very well. The camera noise was incessant and the Heron could clearly hear it as it looked directly towards the hide, seemingly not liking this undue attention. This didn't quire make sense given how much it must have experienced it previously. Maybe it had just had enough for it suddenly took off and flew off low over the water before climbing up and over the trees on the far side and out of sight. 

 

 

A couple of flight shots taken earlier in the week  courtesy of Ewan Urquhart of Black Audi Birding

That was the cue for a gradual exodus from the hide until there were only four of us left. From previous accounts the bird was prone to do this but usually returned and I didn't have to be home until lunchtime so I decided to wait it out. Gradually more birders arrived, including a chap down from Cheshire for the day who wanted it on his year list. He and I got talking about birding, moths, insects in general and fungi as you do situations like this and we passed the time amicably enough.

After a while on the left hand side of the lake we could see a couple of birders who seemed to be looking at something rather intently and taking photos. Could they see the Heron? We'd not seen it fly back but it could have come back in around the corner. The pair soon left but some of the newcomers who had yet to see the bird decided to walk around to take a look. After a few minutes they appeared in the same spot and started scanning carefully before signalling back to us that there was no sign of it.

More time passed and I was starting to get restless. Eventually at just after 12pm I had to leave and wished the remaining hide occupants luck with their vigil. I headed back home to Oxford somewhat disappointed at not having had crippling views of what was normally a very showy bird. From RBA reports it never returned that day and indeed was only reported once after that so I had clearly witnessed the start of it moving on to pastures new. Still, despite the brief and partially obscured views, this had still been my best ever views of a Purple Heron and I will have to be content with that for now.

An unobscured view, taken a few days earlier by Ewan Urquhart of Black Audi Birding