Little egrets have bred in north-east Scotland for the first time, as climate change pushes the range of these once Mediterranean birds further north.

Four of the distinctive large white chicks have fledged at NatureScot’s Forvie National Nature Reserve (NNR) this summer, in what is thought to be the most northerly breeding record in the UK.

Little egrets are a recent colonist of the UK, where they were first recorded breeding in 1996. The first Scottish breeding record was in Dumfries and Galloway in 2020. The UK population is around 1,500-2,000 pairs but the Scottish population remains small.