Country diary: egrets are enchanting at this great watery expanse

Rutland Water, Rutland: Along the margin a loose flock stalks the shallows, their unblemished plumage shining in the gathering gloomAn unfamiliar sonorous rattle passes over the yellowing aspens, emitted by an elegantly expansive bird as immaculate as virgin snow, a great white egret. It drops down behind the autumnal trees to alight in the shallows of a freshwater lagoon that abuts the largest artificial lake in western Europe.Rutland Water was constructed in the valley of the River Gwash in th