The
little bustard hasn't been seen in the county since 1946
By
John Bett
Jenni
Phillips Head Of Audience
11:52, 27
JUN 2019
UPDATED11:55,
27 JUN 2019
Thousands
of twitchers have flocked to a wildlife reserve to catch a sighting of a 'very
rare' bustard bird in the UK.
The
little bustard hasn't been seen in the area since 1946 but keen wildlife
enthusiast Martin McGill spotted one on Sunday.
News of
the sighting soon spread and then thousands of bird-spotters descended on the
Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.
Around
2,000 twitchers lined up for the chance to see and photograph the
"mega" rare sighting.
Reserve warden
Mr McGill said: "I did swear and use some very naughty words when I saw it
but it's extremely rare.
"This
is a mega sighting so we've probably had about 2,000 people by now.
"It's
of interest to lots of people so we're hoping it stays for the weekend."
Martin
said his first reaction when he spotted the "extremely rare" male
bird "can't be published".
Tony
Whitehead, from the RSPB, said: "It's a pretty scarce bird, there have
only been 27 visits by the little bustard to the UK since 1950.
"But
this last few days there has [also] been an influx of painted lady butterflies
with the warm weather so it could be that very hot weather in France and Spain
is causing a bit of movement."
The
little bustard is a large bird in the bustard family, and it breeds in southern
Europe and in western and central Asia.
Southernmost
European birds are mainly resident, but other populations migrate further south
in winter.
The last
reported sighting in the Gloucestershire was in May 1946, and in Britain in
2014.
