A rather fortuitous phone call from Doug this morning had me heading down to the Otter Estuary where a 1st year Gannet was rather unusually sat out on the estuary. The bird seemed healthy enough and perfectly able to fly, though being harrassed by gulls. Sadly, it soon revealed some fishing line hanging from inside its beak. It then flew to the flooded fields where it looked very out of place sat on the water in the company of Great Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Wigeon and Teal! After watching the Gannet for around 5 minutes, Doug and I gave a proper scan of the area and on one of the only visible areas of grass after the flooding, was a totally unexpected Glossy Ibis! Result!
A visit later in the afternoon actually showed there to be 2 Glossy Ibis, making my 22nd Glossy Ibis on the patch! The patch has a history of this species, the best being 20 birds in September 2010 that stayed for a week - See HERE
Also present this afternoon was the rather sad looking Gannet on a grass bank close to the Glossy Ibis, so I called out the RSPCA who arrived at dusk and will hopefully try and catch the bird tomorrow.......
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| 1st year Gannet on the Otter Estuary |
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| Gannet showing fishing line later in the afternoon |
You've definitely changed your lens!
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