I was just walking out of Burton RSPB on sunday afternoon after seeing the Spotted crake when I received a twitter message that a Purple Swamphen had been found at Minsmere in Suffolk. The bird was apparently ringed,so I just drove home and thought nothing more of it. I then received a text of Fred fearn saying that the bird was now apparently unringed after photos had been taken and it had been re identified has a Western race that breeds in Spain and Portugal. There have been several records of Purple Swamphen in Britain,though these have generally related to Grey headed Swamphen which are kept in captivity in this country and most records have been found to be escapes out of someones collection like the Saltney bird in Chester in July 2010.There has been a northward dispersal of this species though in France in 2016 though so you never no it was a good insurance tick!Anyway plans were made by the other lads who were going down in the morning which really gripped me off but I couldn't do anything till tuesday regarding being in work monday morning and having a busy workload but I new I would end up going and hopefully the bird would stay.
The bird showed all day on the monday so I when I left off work in the evening I made the long journey with my partner Dianne to Suffolk.We arrived at Minsmere just after 11.30pm and slept in the car. I set my alarm for 5am and it was soon going off so we made are way straight down to the south hide in the pouring rain!WHEN WILL IT STOP!.I soon picked up the Swamphen weaving in and out of the far reeds,it had stayed and I had seen it.Thankfully the bird had stayed in its favoured area that it had been in for the last two days because it could easily have just disappeared into the vast reed beds at this reserve.
WESTERN SWAMPHEN
The weather was now getting even worse and we were both bloody freezing and wet threw, I just fired away a few record shots of the Swamphen that wont win any prizes and walked back to the car,another down pour came down so we dived into a hide for shelter and a quick look what was about.Black tailed godwits were in good numbers along with 6 Spotted redshank.
BLACK TAILED GODWITS
A Marsh harrier was sat perched distantly and 4 Bearded tits were seen from the hide.
MARSH HARRIER
Just as we were about to leave the hide I picked up a Bittern flying over the reed bed.
BITTERN IN FLIGHT
The rain had now eased a bit so we headed back to the car, on are way back we saw a Water rail and a young family of Whitethroats.
WATER RAIL
COMMON WHITETHROATS
The reserve opened at 9.00am so we nipped into the cafe and had some much deserved breakfast and a hot drink.
A JUVENILE ROBIN KEPT US ENTERTAINED WHILST HAVING ARE BREAKFAST
Moving on from Minsmere we called in at Westleton heath which I last visited on the 11th May 2008 to try and see a Spectacled warbler which I dipped which was eight years ago,how time flies.
THE COMMON HEATHER WAS IN FULL BLOOM ON WESTLETON HEATH
A good walk around the heath soon produced 9 Dartford warblers and a Woodlark fly over.
9 DARTFORD WARBLERS WERE SEEN ON THE HEATH
Getting back to the car the rain started again so we decided to head back north.The Swamphen was in the bag and it is now up to the powers that be to decide if it is an escape or a true vagrant to our shores.Like the Chestnut Bunting,Dalmation Pelican and Lammergeier we will just have to wait and see!If the Chinese Pond Heron can go on!!!!!!
