extraordinary egret exhibition

I often see egrets in our local river (Ng Tung River), but they are almost always solitary individuals, with just the odd occasion when I see two or three. This is in sharp contrast to the situation on the Kam Tin River (out west), where I frequently see large groups of egrets, together with cormorants, black-winged stilts and even the occasional spoonbill. However, this can be explained by the section of the Kam Tin River that we cycle along being a typical estuarine environment, with large areas of mangroves along the shore, while the Ng Tung River is about as far from the sea as it’s possible to get in Hong Kong.

I do see the occasional grey heron here, but nothing could have prepared me for the recent sight of dozens of egrets lined up alongside the winter channel of the river (all the rivers hereabouts have been canalized to prevent flooding, which I surmise would once have been a regular occurrence). And it wasn’t a one-off sight either. Each day for a week, it was party time for egrets on the section of the river that is visible from the road bridge linking the villages of San Wai (where I live) and Siu Hang.

18th december
On this date, Paula and I had walked up the river—something we rarely do nowadays because of the construction in progress—and when we reached the bridge we couldn’t fail to notice all the egrets in the river:

You can see a small part of the ongoing construction in both photos, and also the confluence with the Ma Wat River, which joins the Ng Tung River from the left in the middle distance.

19th december
The following day, when crossing the river, I couldn’t help but notice the concentration of egrets upstream from the bridge:

There are thousands of tiny fish in the winter channel—hence the lines of egrets on each side—which you can see from the bridge on sunny days because the light catches them as they move through the water.

Incidentally, the mountain in the distance is Hung Fah Leng (‘Red Flower Ridge’), otherwise known as Robin’s Nest, although I avoid using silly gweilo toponyms.

20th december
It was sunny on this day, although the fish are too small to be captured by my camera:

This is a closer view of the crowd of egrets where the river bends to the right:

21st december
The crowds were definitely largest on this day:

The first three photos were taken from different positions along the bridge on my way downriver, and the other three were taken about 20 minutes later, on my way home. I couldn’t decide which photo(s) to leave out, so I’ve included them all!

22nd december
This was undoubtedly the quietest day in the seven-day period:

23rd december
This occasion was the only one where I saw egrets close to the bridge on the downstream side:

The mountain in the distance is Lung Shan (‘Dragon Mountain’).

This is a view from the bridge of the same scene, looking directly down to the water:

24th december

Although I walk across the bridge every day, this was the last day when I saw more than two or three egrets. Perhaps they’d exhausted the fish supplies.

*  *  *

Regular readers of this blog will be aware that I’ve posted no new material for the past two months. It’s my ongoing problems with a lower back injury sustained back in July, which means that I cannot sit for extended periods. However, I wanted to post something before the end of what has been a fairly dismal year, and my recent encounters with egrets in our local river seemed a fitting subject.

On the bright side, since last month, I’ve been able to walk extended periods without the aid of a stick, and Paula and I have been out cycling twice a week this month, which has included two 62km rides, although I do have to be careful when stopping and putting my foot down. Here are two videos (shot on an earlier occasion) of part of the ride we did just two days ago:

I found the spiral ramp, which occurs between 5.06 and 5.21 in the first video, to be a bit of a beast! The hidden ramp starting at 2.22 in the second video is also quite tricky, especially if you don’t know it’s there.

I expect to resume posting regularly next month. I have two more reports to write that pertain to our trip to Switzerland in September, and there was a major event centred on the local ancestral hall (held, I believe, every ten years) earlier this month attended by many hundreds of people. I took a lot of photos, and here’s a taster:

I think that you will find a full account fascinating.