14th April 2017 (Shropshire)

After seeing that the night heron had been re-found at Venus Pool in Shropshire, Lewis and I headed off at around 12:30. Due to bad traffic, we didn't arrive until 16:45, however the Night Heron was showing on arrival, and eventually came out into the open. I've been eager to get better view of this species since the distant in-flight views I had at Shapwick a few years back, so it was well-worth the journey. A single Green Sandpiper was the only other species of note.

Night Heron - Venus Pool

Green Sandpiper - Venus Pool

Edit: The Night Heron has now moved to Shrewsbury where it has been identified as the North-American subspecies hoactli. Looking at my shots, the lack of any white around the eye is actually quite obvious. Zooerliste shows that this subspecies is not held (or at least recorded as being held) in captivity anywhere in Europ, and this bird has coincided with an influx of birds into Iceland. A discussion on the bird can be found on birdforum: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=345739
Edit: Reviews of the photos has shown that all other birds in the influx were actually european race birds including the 3 in Iceland, meaning that this bird doesn't meet the pattern of vagrancy.