Cattle Egret or not?

I am always a bit sceptical (is that how you spell it?) about some bird news items that get published on some of the bird news sites. Yesterday on Birdguides a Cattle Egret was reported somewhere on the Otter estuary. Now I don't have enough money to justify subscribing to various website news, so all I got was the headline. Thinking it would be a good Year tick I ventured down to said estuary very early afternoon and walked from White Bridge to Lime Kilns and back also viewing upstream from White Bridge as well. Of course there were no Cattle Egrets, but several Little Egrets on view. The news was not put out on any of the other websites covering Devon bird news. Could a casual observer made a genuine mistake? Was the bird present, but buggered off before anyone else could view it? Or did I look in the wrong place? Time will tell....... I didn't leave empty-handed however, catching up with Water Rail and Stonechat for the year and also getting another Kingfisher. But best of all was a chance meeting with my lovely wife, who just happened to be taking a stroll along Budleigh seafront at the time, and taking the trouble to give me a call to say she was indulging in an energetic sunny walk! Later on, I had my first Yellowhammer of the year at Withycombe Raleigh Common (trying saying that after a few beers!) and also getting my first Exmouth Fieldfares for 2014!