The Downs are fading behind a curtain of rain in the distance. I battle through the mud to take a closer look at the pools of water. The golden brown reeds sway in the breeze and it begins to rain. Ducks are swimming and upending, raising their tails as they reach below the surface for food. Among the mallards, teals, wigeons and shovelers are three handsome male pintail ducks, with chocolate-brown faces, grey flanks, black-and-white backs and the pointed black tails that give them their name. Behind them, on the other side of the pool, is a tall, gleaming white heron with a long, snake-like neck – a great white egret. Slightly smaller than a grey heron, it stands upright with legs splayed and large, pale bill pointing up, but its eyes are looking down at the dark water. The egret moves in sudden, balletic sweeps, first one way, then another, as it watches the fish darting back and forth. It wades towards me, slowly moving its thin legs with long strides, as if walking on stilts. Still rare – the first record of a great white egret in Sussex was in 1985 – they are becoming more frequent visitors throughout the year, but especially in the autumn and winter. Numbers of sightings may be helped by the remarkable growth in the British breeding population. They first bred in the UK in 2012 in Somerset, in 2017 in Norfolk, and in 2019 in Cheshire. This summer, at least 50 birds fledged on the Somerset Levels alone. As the young disperse in the autumn, sightings are bound to become more common. The egret continues to walk slowly, dangling long black toes out of the water. It stops and turns. Again, it sways to one side, then the other, opening its bill slightly and bobbing its tail. It plunges its head in the water with a splash and pulls up with a large fish, wriggling between its mandibles. It swallows the fish in one movement, then dips its beak in the water, shakes its head and pauses, before moving on, feathers buffeted by the strengthening wind. I watch the egret fish until the rain becomes too heavy and I head for home.