Little Egret Egretta garzetta fishing underneath a fallen tree
A Little Egret Egretta garzetta is shown fishing for Common Minnows Phoxinus phoxinus under a storm-felled Horse Chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum in a small London park. The tree had been broken at the base by Storm Henk a week earlier, and it had toppled in a south easterly direction, having been snapped clean through at the base. The two main trunk sections, one still living and the other dead, both fell so that their topmost branches were projecting above a chalk stream, It became obvious more or less immediately just how valuable the modified habitat would become when a Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis was observed using several of the many new fishing perches that the tree's branches now provided on the following morning. The fallen tree was also 'adopted' by the Park's dominant overwintering Little Egret, the subject of this film. It soon became this bird's territorial focal point during the hours of daylight, used for fishing and preening, and being fiercely guarded against rival members of the same species. This Egret had first been seen three years earlier, and it had become the dominant bird during the previous winter. Another Egret had returned to the Park for a ninth consecutive winter, and it could be also sometimes be seen on or underneath the fallen tree - but only in the absence of the dominant bird. If spotted, it would soon be chased away for some distance!
