Having not twitched yesterday I was racked with remorse last night as the posts kept on coming with news of the Pacific Swift still being seen well into the evening over the marsh at Trimley so I decided that I'd wake early and give it a go knowing my chances would be slim as these birds don't come along often and certainly don't spend two days at the same place but what the hell I was going to give it a go, so I collected the Jims and we headed up the A12 arriving at the car park for 7am. We made the walk along the track reported to be some three miles but realistically more like two.
 |
| Trimley Marsh with Pacific Swift in the distance (honest it's there) |
On the way three birders were already leaving saying it wasn't present which we thought was a little strange to be leaving at 7.15am so we continued our march towards the visitor centre hearing Nightingale call along the way. We got to the first hide at 7.30am and entered to find three locals inside and they greeted us with news that they had just seen the bird so within minutes we were all sat enjoying distant views and as news went out on the pager the hide quickly filled. Soon after the mass ranks decided the bank behind the hide would give a better view so we joined them and again had lovely scope views as the bird hawked the reedbed and came a little closer in the next hour that we watched it. Having an appointment to keep we had to leave but took advantage of the warden and his car for a lift back through the reserve to the car park for a small donation....what a result and what a gent he was.
Great twitch of this mega rarity with a good bunch of birders and a welcoming reserve.
Pacific Swifts breed in eastern Asia and winter in Australia so finding one in Suffolk is rare in fact I think it's the first time for the county and only the seventh for Britain with most not being twitchable until this little guy decided to stay put long enough for us. (Bird 251 for 2013!)
No comments:
Post a Comment