Egrets Gone..

 How come I visit Gayhurst Quarry on a regular basis and have still to find anything as rare as a Great White Egret, yet twice in the last three months people driving at seventy miles an hour down the adjacent M1 motorway claim to have seen this very bird on site.
 Now of course I had to go and check out today's latest report, especially with the bird recently cropping up at nearby Linford.
 Unfortunately there was no sign when I looked around this afternoon. There was of course the usual Little Egrets, at least 4 alive and this unfortunate individual, which looked as though it may have flown into a Power Line as it had a broken lower mandible and both legs were missing despite the rest of its body being intact, aside from a bit of decay

Birdwise there wasn't too much on offer other than the numerous young Mallards, a large flock of Black-headed Gulls, a single Common Sandpiper, a flyover Buzzard and Drakey Wigeon has reappeared after going missing for a few weeks.

A look across the field on the return walk showed a male Muntjac working  it's way along the hedge towards me. Thinking this would be an ideal photo opportunity, I crouched down waiting for it get to me. What I hadn't counted on however was that the strong south westerly wind was blowing directly from me to the deer and he was off before he got anywhere near.