On 7 October this year a Glossy Ibis was found at Rye Meads. It was there the following day, again on 13-14 Oct and has since been located on a flooded field off Marsh Lane Stanstead Abbotts, still present as of 18 Oct.
Once a rare vagrant to the UK, numbers have increased significantly since the mid 2000s mirroring the increase in their breeding population in southwest Europe. It is still, however, a major rarity in Herts; this is just the fourth sighting since 1887! Excluding the three 19th historical records, the previous accepted Herts records are :
- Tyttenhanger GPs 21 September 2009 - part of a large influx into Britain that year
- Tyttenhanger GPs 3 November 2013 - a juvenile
- Rye Meads 5-13 November 2013 - also a juvenile and presumably the same bird as at Tyttenhanger
Glossy Ibis is a widespread species found in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. They disperse widely after the nesting season and birds ringed in Spain have been recorded as far away as Barbados.
Did you know: its scientific name Plegadis falcinellus, derives from Ancient Greek and Latin words meaning 'sickle' referring to the distinctive shape of the bill.
Driven by climate change - drier summers in southwest Europe together with milder winters in the UK - numbers of this species are expected to increase further and after two failed breeding attempts in 2014 and 2016, in 2022 a pair successfully bred in Britain for the first time.
