Having returned from 2 weeks in Namibia yesterday, I was looking forward to visiting the patch and headed down there late afternoon after having arrived into Heathrow very early morning. I decided to just take my bins and no camera - Big mistake! At around 3.20pm I picked up a distant Common / Pallid Swift being mobbed by a Crow! The light was pretty poor, so the only notable thing during this quick observation as it flew above a line of mature trees on the west side of Big Marsh south, was the very leisurely flight style of the bird. Noticeably slow wing beats and short glides. Possibly also blunter tipped wings.
After around a minute of watching, I took a gamble and quickly drove home to grab my camera and just hoped I could relocate it. I called Rick to see if he was around, but he wasn't available. Luckily, on my return, I picked up the Swift again twice at 4pm and 4.20pm, but I failed to see it particularly well or close and crucially, never managed any photos!
So I headed out again this morning in the hope it had roosted nearby and at around 07.50 I re-found it in the same area and then managed some poor photos at around 08.45! I saw it again at 10am, but at great distance as it drifted inland. Sadly, that was the final sighting, despite a few local birders looking throughout the morning.
Below is the best effort of any photo I managed to get and they do appear to show some Pallid-like features and with such a big national influx of Pallid Swifts in recent days, it's clearly not that unlikely.
I'm still cautious as to how much you trust what are ultimately very poor images....but overall there do appear to be relevant Pallid features, particularly on the photo below.
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| Original just cropped and lightened. Overall paler brown colouration compared to Common Swift and contrasting dark "alien" eye. |
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| Collage of all photos taken. Only heavily cropped and lightened. |
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| Sharpened image. Note contrasting dark eye, extensive pale throat patch |
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