COUNTY FIRST!

6/12/09

holt then grimley

last night i asked brian to keep me updated on the glossy ibis as i had heard on saturday it was very mobile, after recieving news the previous night saying it had flushed from a gunshot,my hopes wernt high.

but early mouning i recieved news it was again,below the castle on floodwater,so soon after we left for it,we parked in the warth inn car park and met a couple from shropshire(i think) who were also looking for the bird,we walked downriver,a cormorant was on a riverside tree and i stood in slightly rotting cow pat,nice.i wiped it off and checked my phone,another txt from brian saying it had relocated to wagon wheel lane,followed by a quick,its moved from here to the others and we all headed back for our cars,as the couple didnt know the area we agreed to guide them to the site,after about 15 mins we had parked in grimley and started walking down.

the twitch was easy to spot, i set up my scope and the few people that were there(3 people,i knew 2,one was brian stretch and the other was andy shaw),they said hi and said the bird was still out there,well what can i say it was mega easy to spot, a medium sized black bird. the light was superb,it was coming in from behind us and iluminated the GLOSSY IBIS(LIFER 199) perfectly.the green sheen in the wings stood out but as it was a first winter it was a very dull sheen,but still an amazing bird,the shropshire couple then arrived and i pointed it out and the bloke pulled out a monster of a camera lens.

here are my distant record shots:

so now with the ibis secured i scanned the rest of the flood,2 greylag geese flew over,69 wigeon were on the water as well as a few shoveler,and in with these ducks were 3 pintail(all female),a few l b b gulls were on the water and 6 mute swans were about.unfortunalty i didnt get many other pics/films of other birds.

after brian and richard harbid and the shopshire couple left it was andy shaw,my dad,me and an unknown photographer.and we were about to witness an almost murder,the GLOSSY IBIS suddenly flew up and looked as if it was flying away,my dad shouted peregrine,i was still watching the ibis and suddenly the ibis went spaz and dived head first into the water,but just before the ibis hit the water the peregrine swooped down and came within inches of taking this county first.we shouted out wjat had just happened and the peregrine landed in a nearby tree,it shown for about 10 secs in the tree(showing it was a male,including its small size) then bolted off east.

the ibis then lande in a few willow trees,after a bit longer it again took flight and this time flew high.i just about managed an in flight film of it,then it again landed in the willows but wasent again seen by us.

the scope views were quite good but the films just dont show it,although i an particualrly proud of the in flight film,

then in grimley village had a goldcrest.we then headed home,and another sesion with the kingfishers

MB