Great White Egret at Brockhall Gravel Pits Nature Reserve (8th November 2024)

 

Photo 1: Great White Egret (Brockhall Quarry, 8/11/24)

It was a dank grey mizzly November day where the temperature struggled, but failed, to reach double figures. Just the weather for sitting by a warm cosy fire reading a book. For some reason, we decided to go for a walk around a nearby nature reserve, Brockhall Gravel Pits (aka Brockhall Quarry and Sugwas Pools). We parked the campervan in the lay-by on the A438, carefully crossed the road (it can get busy), took the house-lined side road to our right for 50 yards before disappearing down a ginnel towards the woods and emerging onto the grassland with the waters ahead of us. Fuller details with photos on how to access the nature reserve can be found here.

Figure 1: Brockhall Gravel Pits/Sugwas Pools (Google Maps)

This was the eastern edge of the ice sheets covering Herefordshire during the Last Glacial Maximum, 20,000 to 25, 000 years ago. You can read about the ice age ponds found in this area here and here.

This is a popular place for spotting waterfowl, waders and migrant species. Check the website of the Herefordshire Ornithological Club for details of the site (Brockhall Gravel Pits) and a list of birds regularly seen.

We did the circular walk around the lake - about 3 kilometres. On the water we saw, in addition to the Great White Egret, a Grey Heron, lots of Tufted Ducks, Coots, Mallards, Mandarin Ducks, several Great Crested Grebes and a Common Gull. In the surrounding woodland there was a flock of long-tailed tits, robin, blue tits, rook, crow, blackbird, jay and kestrel (Photo 2).

Photo 2: Kestrel at Brockhall Gravel Pits (8/11/24)

The star of the show was undoubtedly the Great White Egret easily discernible from its smaller cousin, the Little Egret, by its yellow beak and black feet (the other way round for the Little Egret!). If you are lucky enough to observe the Great White Egret next to our more familiar Grey Heron (as we were on this occasion), you will immediately see their similar sizes whereas the Little Egret is much smaller. 

Photo 3: Great White Egret, Brockhall Gravel Pits (8th November 2024)

We tried to get closer but every time we approached within about 50 metres of the bird, it flew away. The short video below shows the third time (of four) that the bird did this. By the way, the noise in the background is from the shooting range at the nearby Credenhill Barracks.

Video 1: Great White Egret, Brockhall Gravel Pits (8/11/24)

It was 2 pm and we were ready for a hot drink and a bite to eat. The nearest establishments are the Hereford Garden Centre (heading back into Hereford) and Timothy & Birch (in the opposite direction). Both serve excellent food but Timothy & Birch is hard to beat for the quality of the food and the friendliness of the service. Don't forget to have a look round the shop packed with lots of ideas for presents, either for yourself or that special friend/relative.