This photo of the little egret in Monks Brook was taken in mid February. It was trying to catch a fish, just over the wall of the Fleming Arms.
photo by Janet Ticehurst
The little egret, a small white heron, first appeared in the UK in significant numbers in 1989 and first bred in Dorset in 1996. Its colonization followed a range expansion into western and northern France in previous decades. It is now at home on numerous south coast sites, as a breeding species and a winter visitor.