more exotic visitors

[JeffH]

Check this out - Glossy ibis leads feathered exodus from the Med to a new life in . . . Lincolnshire - Times Online

Jeff

[aeshna5]

Last spring there was an unprecedented influx of Glossy Ibis in England with over 20 birds recorded. It would be good to see these birds colonise our shores.

[Pete Collins]

I got really excited on Sunday at Holkham (North Norfolk) when I saw a Sacred Ibis! Sadly I quickly realised that it must be an escaped bird, and having checked the web since it seems to have been reported there and at Stiffkey quite regularly for a few months now. Still, it gave me quite a shock when what my friend and I presumed was another Little Egret (we'd seen 60 come in to roost there the night before) turned in the air and showed its black head/neck and curved bill.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Pete Collins

I got really excited on Sunday at Holkham (North Norfolk) when I saw a Sacred Ibis! Sadly I quickly realised that it must be an escaped bird, and having checked the web since it seems to have been reported there and at Stiffkey quite regularly for a few months now. Still, it gave me quite a shock when what my friend and I presumed was another Little Egret (we'd seen 60 come in to roost there the night before) turned in the air and showed its black head/neck and curved bill.

There is a very large naturalised population of Sacred Ibis on the Atlantic coast of France (1000+birds according to an article in Birding World a couple of years back). Maybe this Holkham bird originates from this feral population.

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

There was a whole bunch (15?) of Glossies turned up on the Severn estuary not far from Slimbridge in the spring last year.

[Pete Collins]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

There is a very large naturalised population of Sacred Ibis on the Atlantic coast of France (1000+birds according to an article in Birding World a couple of years back). Maybe this Holkham bird originates from this feral population.

Thanks aeshna5. You could well be right - I had no idea where the nearest population of Sacred Ibis was. I just assumed it was an escaped bird (after my initial euphoria!) and when I got home I checked on another website. When it was first reported a few months ago it was 'presumed escaped' and none of the subsequent reports queried that.

[John]

It has been established that this Sacred Ibis is an escapee. They even mentioned where from last year but I can't remember where it was now. Could have been Pensthorpe I suppose.

It has been around for ages and I saw it around the beginning of October myself on the Stiffkey floods. Smart bird.

Regarding the Lincs Glossy Ibis piece in the Times. It is slightly incorrect in as much as the long staying Glossy in Lanc's is still being seen from time to time.

John

Originally Posted by aeshna5

There is a very large naturalised population of Sacred Ibis on the Atlantic coast of France (1000+birds according to an article in Birding World a couple of years back). Maybe this Holkham bird originates from this feral population.

[Pete Collins]

Thanks for that info, John.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Also a Cattle Egret in Lincs at the minute

[dmclean2]

Hi Lincs,
Is a catle egret the same as a white egret, or are they different species,
Duncan.