A tweet from @marburypatch early this morning set pulses racing when news broke of a Glossy Ibis at Neumann’s Flash, Northwich — my former patch and a long-standing omission from my patch list. With the species still needed as a patch tick, I quickly rang Malc Curtin, who was already en route.
The bird had been found by local patch regular Greg Baker, who was watching a Little Egret on Stilt Island when the ibis was flushed by the egret and flew across to Ashton’s Flash. I headed straight over to Northwich, but on arrival, the news was discouraging: the bird had not been seen again.
I met up with Malc and his wife, and we walked a full circuit of Ashton’s Flash without success. As birders began to drift away and we were heading back to our cars, Malc received a call from another local patcher, Mark Taylor, who had successfully relocated the bird — back at Neumann’s Flash. We immediately made our way there, where the Glossy Ibis was showing well, feeding calmly around the reed margins.
An earlier record cited by T. Hedley Bell in The Birds of Cheshire — a bird present on Burton Marshes from 16 September to 6 October 1959 — was subsequently accepted by BBRC as Flintshire only.
