JDog Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Sitting up glassing for pigeons on fresh drillings (there were none) I saw an unusual bird circling overhead. I had a good view and even took a poor picture on my phone before memorising what I had seen and rushing back home to get a proper identity. This bird was not in my bird book which I had with me. My neighbour who was jogging miles from home was standing with me when I saw it for the second time. There is no doubt that it was a White Stork (Ciconia ciconia). The 'beast from the east' must have blown it off course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyefor Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 There are quite a few Storks in the UK - especially in E Anglia. We had some at Sharnbrook (just north of Bedford) and there is also some supposed to be near Oxford. Very strange flying style with neck and legs extended. Look like a forerunner of Concorde! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 I have seen Storks on several occasions , the one you saw could have been a escapee from the wildfowl collections , one near us the Storks are free wing and nest on the chimney stacks next to Filby Broad . One we had on the estuary last year the local bird watcher could read the number on the leg ring with his powerful telescope and yes , it was from a collection . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yates Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 I’ve never one. Do they breed over here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Not an Egret was it JDog, we have 1 or 2 over this side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted April 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 9 minutes ago, aga man said: Not an Egret was it JDog, we have 1 or 2 over this side. No definitely not an Egret even one of the larger ones. I have a clear picture in my mind of the bird and it was a White Stork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 8 minutes ago, JDog said: No definitely not an Egret even one of the larger ones. I have a clear picture in my mind of the bird and it was a White Stork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIDES EDGE Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Odd things do turn up I saw a Hoopoe on Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyefor Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 4 hours ago, yates said: I’ve never one. Do they breed over here? 5 hours ago, marsh man said: ......near us the Storks....nest on the chimney stacks next to Filby Broad . Yes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Don't you love it when you spot something you have no idea what it is so you have to find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted April 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 10 minutes ago, Mice! said: Don't you love it when you spot something you have no idea what it is so you have to find out. I am not a 'Twitcher' by any means but there would be very few birds in the UK that I couldn't identify, even the 'little brown jobs'. This was a new one on me and I was a tad excited at seeing it. My neighbour has a passing interest in birds too and she is beside herself at spotting this bird once I pointed it out to her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 13 minutes ago, JDog said: I am not a 'Twitcher' by any means but there would be very few birds in the UK that I couldn't identify, even the 'little brown jobs'. This was a new one on me and I was a tad excited at seeing it. My neighbour has a passing interest in birds too and she is beside herself at spotting this bird once I pointed it out to her. Looking in my bird book there is also a Black Stork and in the late 1800s it was a very unhealthy place for both White and Black Storks to come and visit our estuary , here is an insert referring the Black Stork Black Stork: A rare vagrant from eastern and southern Europe ,An adult female was shot on Breydon mudflats on June 27th 1877 by John " Pintail " Thomas , constituting only the second Norfolk sighting . This fine specimen is now at Norwich Castle Museum . Just over one hundred years later another Black Stork was seen on July 31st 1979 heading south over Breydon Water during the late afternoon. Most , if not all the White storks suffered the same fate , Two were shot in the summer of 1817 on the Burgh Castle marshes and another was seen to fly in off the sea on May 10th 1842 , only to be shot the next day , six miles away on the Halvergate marshes . Moving forward to safer times for the Storks , there was a small invasion of at least 18 White Storks in April 1967 , these stayed for most of the summer , often seen during courtship displayed on the sails at the drainage mill , as summer declined, two birds remained to December until one suffered a fatal accident with a overhead power cable . Still it made a change from getting shot, since then there have been sighting most years and like I said in the earlier post , some are now free to fly and nesting on the chimney stacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted April 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Good info MM thanks. The one I saw today was well out of range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good shot? Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 2 hours ago, TIDES EDGE said: Odd things do turn up I saw a Hoopoe on Sunday. Always wanted to see one from being a young lad with my 'Observers book of British birds' (still have it) 50 odd years ago. Had to wait till a couple of years ago and saw a two in Lanzarote outside our hotel whilst on holiday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Geordie Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 (edited) Storks are not rare at all, where do you think babies come from Edited April 9, 2018 by Lord Geordie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeye Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Yes but do you see them delivering them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 2 hours ago, Good shot? said: Always wanted to see one from being a young lad with my 'Observers book of British birds' (still have it) 50 odd years ago. Had to wait till a couple of years ago and saw a two in Lanzarote outside our hotel whilst on holiday. there on cbebies every night, 655 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stumfelter Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Would a stork be able to take a black cat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Geordie Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 13 minutes ago, stumfelter said: Would a stork be able to take a black cat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 16 hours ago, JDog said: No definitely not an Egret even one of the larger ones. I have a clear picture in my mind of the bird and it was a White Stork. One bird which you are unlikely to see on your travels is a American Bitten , there is one at the moment on the Carlton Marshes just over the border on the Suffolk Wildlife Trust land . just about every bird watcher up and down the country was there yesterday to look at this rarity . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted April 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 I have yet to see a Waxwing, Dartford Warbler or Hawfinch. Apparently this winter has been the best ever for the latter with 110 arriving from the Continent in one flock over part of the coast which I regularly frequent. I must have been either looking the other way or for pigeons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good shot? Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 23 hours ago, Mice! said: there on cbebies every night, 655 ? I was referring to the Hoopoe post, and don't say he was one of the Marx brothers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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