Over the last few months the water levels at Tice’s Meadow have gradually reduced with several islands appearing and access to the waterside hide is now possible, writes Alan Wynde.

This has meant keen photographers have been able to get some really great pictures of fish-eating birds capturing their prey, juggling it around in their beaks to enable them to swallow and finally succeeding.

We’ve been impressed with the size of some fish, suggesting the waters are an excellent piscine environment. This is just as well as Cormorants, Grebes, Gulls, Herons and Kingfishers regularly visit the Tice’s larder while two new fishing species have been seen in the last few weeks. These new arrivals are Goosanders and the Great White Egret, and both are magnificent.

Goosanders are members of the saw bill family of ducks, so called because of the serrated edges of their beaks, which makes swallowing their prey much easier.

They are birds which nest in holes in trees, hopefully near water, as the first thing that happens to ducklings when they leave the nest is to fall several feet from the nesting hole to the ground. They are accompanied by their mother speedily to a nearby water course.

Meanwhile the males have migrated to Norway to moult. Typical.

Goosanders first nested in the UK in Scotland in 1871 and have now spread to northern England ,Wales and the West Country, from where a few pairs have spread eastwards and are now nesting in Hampshire.

It is now estimated that there are about 5,000 breeding pairs in the UK, but in winter the population can reach up to 15,000 birds, the numbers being increased by migrants from Scandinavia and Russia.

The male Goosander is a handsome bird, as it has a dark green iridescent head ,and a blood red beak, contrasting starkly with its white body and black wings.

The female is less gaudy, as usual, and has an orange head, with a spikey, punk hair style and a grey body.

The Great White Egret is an even more recent addition to the British bird list. Formerly a very rare bird, there has been a meteoric increase in the records since 2010 and it has been seen in England in every month of the year.

The first recorded breeding in England was in 2012 in the Somerset Levels. Therefore, it is anticipated that the Great White will become a welcome and regular visitor to Tices.

There are now three species of Egret nesting in the UK. In addition to the Great White we have the Little Egret, which can be seen on the Wey in central Farnham, and the Cattle Egret, which started to breed in the UK in 2008 and its numbers are slowly increasing.

The Great white lives up to its name, having completely white plumage, and a huge yellow dagger of a beak, and is similar in size to the common Grey Heron.

So the fish at Tice’s better watch out.