Success story

The Little Egret, a member of the Heron family, was once common in north west Europe and Britain. Records show that it was served in large numbers at medieval Royal feasts.

It then declined rapidly due in part to cooler periods but largely because of hunting. Its summer plumes were valued as hat decorations and in the nineteenth century hundreds of thousands of Egret skins were auctioned in London.

By the 1950s it had become confined to southern Europe.

Then conservation laws were introduced and its recovery has been remarkable. It first appeared in significant numbers in Britain in 1989 and by 1996 it was breeding in Dorset.

Now here in north west England we see them several times every week.

A story to give heart to all nature conservationists.