Glossy Ibis – Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve, near Canterbury, Kent, 10^th November 1988

So. Alison Bunting and I decided to twitch the long-staying Glossy Ibis which regularly roosted at Stodmarsh.

We travelled from Dorset to Kent to do so on Thursday the 10th November 1988.

We arrived early. I only expected a brief fly-over view at dusk. I was concerned about it being very bad light at dusk, allowing only a very poor view, as it came in during an anticipated 16:00 to 16:40 ‘window’ after a long vigil.

So, when during our walk to the best viewing location we jammed into the bird at only 15:05 (also seeing Hen Harrier but not seeing Isabelline Shrike) I was very happy. As we worked our way back along the causeway flanked by reed-beds on both sides we were attracted to something happening by the presence of two Carrion Crows overhead. I suspected they had been mobbing it as it flew in off the rough pasture area to the south.

When we got on it, it was already dropping in to a lagoon surrounded by reed-beds. It was still reasonably good light (well not too bad!); certainly, we would have probably missed it otherwise. We watched as it dramatically, extrovertly ‘whiffled’ in to roost like a goose, before landing in full view on the edge of the reed-bed. Here it preened, stretched and moved about, giving excellent views.

The long thin neck, and relatively large rounded head and, obviously, a long down-curved bill were all evident in flight.

It was like a black egret in size and shape at rest, apart from the long down-curved bill, which was thick at the base, tapered and kinked.

Subsequently, at long time later I saw one south of Kinross in March 2014 and several together on Fair Isle in October 2017.

Lastly, I should perhaps just indicate that in the late 1980s Glossy Ibis was still a genuine 'rare', hence twitching the long-staying Stodmarsh bird from Dorset. Ignoring the 'many' records prior to 1957 when the Rarities Committee came into being, there had been just 40 records between 1958 and 1987, and there were just two records in 1988, including the Stodmarsh bird. Indeed, the 1988 Rare Birds in Great Britain report noted that the species "(Range is almost cosmopolitan, nearest breeders in the Balkans) Still a few odd ones appear in odd places; the severe decline in Europe has led to speculation that 'our' birds may be from the Nearctic".

However, despite droughts and climate change the species successfully re-colonised Iberia and numbers boomed, and it is believed that it is from here that most records in Great Britain now emanate.

Glossy Ibis, Stodmarsh, Kent, November 1988 (photograph credited to Tim Loseby).