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Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 6:35 pm
by Conifers
Glossy Ibis, and yep - in southeast Northumberland today icon_thumright

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 8:14 pm
by GoggleboxUK
:shock:

How unusual is that?

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 8:45 pm
by Clive60
There have been quite a few around the UK in the last few years and even overwintering here sitting through some really cold weather. I remember there was a flock of around 20 in Wales a year or two ago. We had one on Wareham Common two years ago but I didn't get as good a pic as this one.
As other farmland birds are declining the larger waders, Herons and Egrets are increasing. Perhaps the Glossy will breed and colonise. Your pic Conifers?

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 11:05 pm
by Conifers
Clive60 wrote:There have been quite a few around the UK in the last few years and even overwintering here sitting through some really cold weather. I remember there was a flock of around 20 in Wales a year or two ago. We had one on Wareham Common two years ago but I didn't get as good a pic as this one.
As other farmland birds are declining the larger waders, Herons and Egrets are increasing. Perhaps the Glossy will breed and colonise. Your pic Conifers?
Yep, my pic, took it this morning. It was amazingly unconcerned about people, could get within 25 metres of it without it being bothered at all, on some suburban grass beside a busy main road. It got nervous and alert if people tried to get to 20m from it, but just walked slowly away to 25m range again. I heard it was flushed by a dog walker later, but it only flew up into trees and came back down to feed again soon after.

They're still rare this far north (only 4 or 5 in Northumbs in the last 5 years), but with the Spanish population growing fast (recolonisation to 9,000+ pairs in just 18 years), I suspect they're going to become a lot more familiar in the future.

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 11:13 pm
by GREVILLE
Is this recent siting down to current winter climate, increased numbers or both?

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 11:39 pm
by Conifers
GREVILLE wrote:Is this recent siting down to current winter climate, increased numbers or both?
I'd say both. If the winter had been like the last few, I doubt it would have survived up here. The previous Northumbs Glossy Ibises were all in late summer / autumn.

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:50 am
by stephenprudence
It's not unusual to see these on the Dee Estuary (The Welsh-English one), in fact I'm pretty sure Ive seen one from a restaraunt on the beach in my town! Most likely they are stopping off on some type of migration though otherwise we'd see a whole lot more of them.

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 1:41 pm
by Yorkshire Kris
We have two Ibis in Leeds but both are hotels.

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 1:48 pm
by GoggleboxUK
Yorkshire Kris wrote:We have two Ibis in Leeds but both are hotels.
:lol:

In that case, there's a penguin near me ;)

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 1:50 pm
by Conifers
Yorkshire Kris wrote:We have two Ibis in Leeds but both are hotels.
Bet they're not Glossy, though . . . more likely Tacky Ibis? :roll: :lol:

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 1:54 pm
by otorongo
Great to see them in Britain, we need more exoticity even if it's only Mediterranean.

The Wikipedia article says they've been sighted overwintering in Britain and Ireland in the recent years, so it must be a colonizing trend icon_cheers

Our winter climate is mild enough for them and it's good they're taking advantage of it icon_thumleft At least all that wetness and gloominess is not for nothing.

I'd also like to see more turtles in our rivers and wetlands, and obviously hummingbirds and parrots in the suburban gardens. The climate is improving, so maybe some day...

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 2:30 pm
by Blairs
otorongo wrote: I'd also like to see more turtles in our rivers and wetlands, and obviously hummingbirds and parrots in the suburban gardens. The climate is improving, so maybe some day...
Does Regents Park not have 'feral' terrapins in the ponds? I seem to remember some. Not exactly turtles but am sure they add color, even if they kill our wildlife.
Clive60 wrote: As other farmland birds are declining the larger waders, Herons and Egrets are increasing. Perhaps the Glossy will breed and colonise. Your pic Conifers?
Quite a few Herons around my neighbourhood, good to hear that their numbers are increasing.

Loch Leven and Vane Farm is 10 minutes up the road from me, and with a large park and woodland to the direct south of me I spot quite a few birds passing through - not an Ibis alas.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/lochleven/

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 9:27 pm
by Clive60
That's a great pic Conifers, they are handsome birds particularly in the sunlight. As you no doubt know, the Sacred Ibis has also increased it's Northern range into France so we may eventually see more of them here too although it may not be so welcome as they are predatory.

Re: Southern Spain, or southeast Northumberland??

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:06 pm
by Conifers
Clive60 wrote:That's a great pic Conifers, they are handsome birds particularly in the sunlight.
Thanks!!
Clive60 wrote:As you no doubt know, the Sacred Ibis has also increased it's Northern range into France so we may eventually see more of them here too although it may not be so welcome as they are predatory.
They'd be less welcome here (and are less welcome in France), not so much because they are predatory, but because they are illegal aliens icon_thumbdown (i.e., escapes from zoos), rather than honest, hard-working legal immigrants like the Glossy Ibises icon_thumleft

Actually saw a Sacred Ibis up here a couple of years ago, the jury is still out as to whether it was a local UK escapee, or from the feral population in France.