Meet the rare bird calling the West Midlands home

14:30, 14 AUG 2016

BY MIKE LOCKLEY

For the very first time, little egrets, birds usually associated with Mediterranean climes, have nested in our patch.

It’s the West Midlands first that has birdwatchers in a flap.

Yes, the egret has landed. Not only that, it’s nested.

For the very first time, little egrets, birds usually associated with Mediterranean climes, have nested in our patch.

West Midlands Bird Club broke the news after being tipped-off by residents living close to the heronry at Middleton, Warwickshire.

They had seen small, snow-white birds that definitely weren’t herons. A closer inspection revealed three little egrets had hatched high in the dense cover of trees.

Bird Club leading light Ray Davies said: “No one knew about it until they could be seen standing in the nest. It really is a wonderful event.

It may be a first, but it’s not totally unexpected.

Little egrets, perhaps spurred by climate change, began to colonise the south of England 20 years ago and the small number of newcomers quickly began to grow. What’s more, the egrets’ range expanded rapidly.

When they began to nest in Conway, North Wales, birders knew it was only a matter of time before the little egret became a West Midlands breeding species.

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Rare foreign gull breeds after nesting in city harbour

By Frances Burscough

PUBLISHED08/07/2016

Britain may be heading out of the EU, but a rare Mediterranean gull - a species normally found around the shores of Greece, Turkey and the Black Sea - has taken residence at the Harbour Estate in Belfast Docks and successfully bred for the first time in the city.

Although Mediterranean gulls are notoriously difficult to identify because of their similarity to the common Black-headed gull, this one happened to nest in full view of Northern Ireland's most knowledgeable bird experts at the RSPB's Window on Wildlife Reserve - and it certainly ruffled a few feathers in the process.

In fact, twitchers from all over Ireland have been flocking to the Airport Road West reserve to catch a glimpse of the bird ever since.

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Two bird species make rare Scottish appearances

Monday 04 January 2016

A bird more commonly seen in southern Europe and Africa has made a rare appearance in Scotland.

A glossy ibis was spotted at the ruined Ormiclate Castle on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides on Saturday. The sighting comes a few days after a swift was spotted in Scotland for only the fourth recorded time.

The bird was discovered at Thortonloch, near Dunbar, in East Lothian,on Hogmanay. The bird has the body of a curlew and the legs of a flamingo and gets its name from the iridescent sheen on its wings.

It has become a regular winter visitor to the south of England, with young birds appearing in flocks from Spain.

The sighting comes a few days after a little swift was spotted in Scotland for only the fourth recorded time.

The bird was discovered at Thortonloch, near Dunbar in East Lothian, on Hogmanay.

The little swift, whose scientific name is apus affinis, breeds from Africa eastwards through southern tropical Asia to western Indonesia

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Hoopoe causing a hoopla in southeast as 50 exotic birds spotted

Birdwatchers believe a funnel of air caused them to overshoot France and land in Ireland

A hoopoe: it is 50 years since so many have been spotted in Ireland.

Alison Healy

Mon, Apr 27, 2015, 01:00

First published:Mon, Apr 27, 2015, 01:00

If you think you spotted an unusual pink bird with zebra-patterned wings in recent weeks, you are not alone.

The hoopoe, so called because of the sound it makes, has come to these shores in unexpectedly large numbers this year, with at least 50 being spotted, according to Birdwatch Ireland’s head of operations, Oran O’Sullivan. It is 50 years since so many hoopoes have been spotted here.

Usually, fewer than 10 are recorded in early spring or late autumn when migrating birds stray off course.

Mr O’Sullivan said the exotic birds, about the size of a starling or thrush, were a Mediterranean species, typically nesting in trees and olive groves.

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Rare birds found in Jersey

Conservationists have come across two rare visitors to the island while surveying birds over the past two weeks.

A Little Bunting and a Serin were found by ornithologists in the conservation fields planted to feed endangered birds.

Both species could potentially breed in Jersey if they would find the right conditions. Local nature enthusiasts hope that they might decide to make Jersey their permanent home.

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