Swampy,Take Two!.....Tuesday 30th August.

Imagine the disbelief while at work,a message arrives from birding buddy Tim,that a Western-purple Swamphen has just been found at Alkborough Flats 25 miles from home!!!.
 At first i thought,do i go or not and i decided on the latter,but first i did the sensible thing and went and scoffed my steak pie and chips at home and took Trace along to her first twitch.
 After a relaxed drive over(Remember i had recently seen the Minsmere bird),we arrived at the reserve car park at the northern end of the site,to it all to ourselves.
 After getting the kit together we made our way down to the southern end of the site and the 'First' hide from which the bird had been seen.
 On arrival,several familiar faces proved the bird was still on show and it wasn't too long before we watching Swampy again,albeit a lot more distant than at Minsmere.
 As we watched the bird,it fed in typical fashion,in and out of the reed edge as it had at Minsmere,occasionally breaking cover,what a beast of a bird!.
 After a while Trace and myself decided to go and look from the hillside to see if we could locate any Spoonbills and managed to find just 3 and we wondered where were the others.
 A quick phone call from Tim and he was on his way,so we waited until he arrived and then walked back down the hill to the hide for a second look.
 Back in the hide again and some much better views of the Swamphen this time, albeit at the same distance and more friendly faces included birding buddy's Charlie and Mags.It was great that everyone locally had connected with the bird.A nice bonus while watching the myriad of Avocets,was the remainder of the flock of Spoonies flying in,boosting the 3 to 12,a lovely sight to see.
 After a while the bird flew and one of the guys twitching the bird managed some flight shots of the bird.He kindly showed them to me and there it was,either a missing inner primary or outer secondary feather,just like the Minsmere bird.This may just be coincidence,but it was on the left wing as the Minsmere bird,so may well be the same individual,particularly due to the rarity of the species and it also being an adult.
 After our fill of this monster purple reed muncher,we said our goodbyes to Charlie,Mags and Tim and made our way home after a very enjoyable few hours out seeing this mega bird.

Part Of The Spoonbill Flock In Amongst The Avocets Etc.

One Of The Many Views Across This Extensive Site.

Western-purple Swamphen From Minsmere,Showing The Missing Wing Feather.