A few photos of the Glossy Ibis that dropped in at Horwich during October and November 2013.
Until recently a scarce visitor to the UK since 2006 they’ve become almost annual visitors to the coastal marshes of north-west England. In 2013 they finally made it to a wet boggy field just below Winter Hill on the outskirts of Greater Manchester.
 Glossy Ibis in Horwich probing for worms and other grubs in the damp pasture on the edge of the west Lancashire moors. |
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 Perhaps its not too surprising they can move so quickly with feet like these. |
 Glossy Ibis in flight. Considering the size of the birds they appear to be relatively strong fliers and not in the slightest bothered about the strong wind howling down from the moors |
 An earlier photo of a Glossy Ibis in full breeding plumage taken in the Coto Donana, Spain during April 2009. With the Spanish birds being the nearest breeding colony this is the most likely origin of the Horwich birds. The similarity in habitat is striking (the temperature certainly wasn’t). |