Herons & Egrets in Scotland
Our list for Scotland has 5 herons & egrets recorded regularly there: 3 residents and 2 winter visitors
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in Scotland in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 5, most common first
Grey HeronArdea cinereaResidentCommon90–98 cmRecorded all year
Little EgretEgretta garzettaWinter visitorUncommon55–65 cmRecorded all year
Great White EgretArdea albaWinter visitorUncommon80–104 cmRecorded all year
Cattle EgretArdea ibisResidentRare46–56 cmRegularly Oct–Nov
Eurasian BitternBotaurus stellarisResidentRare69–81 cmRegularly Jan–Feb
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Cattle Egret 46–56 cm
- Little Egret 55–65 cm
- Eurasian Bittern 69–81 cm
- Great White Egret 80–104 cm
- Grey Heron 90–98 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made