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| The Squacco Heron at Attenborough with a Perch - © Neil Walker |
As a keen birdwatcher you often dream of the day that the
many hours you put in to watching your ‘local patch’ will be rewarded with a
real gem of a bird, a mega rarity. Despite getting much enjoyment from watching
our common resident and migrant species, you can’t help but get excited by the
presence of a bird that has turned up some thousands of miles away from its
normal range.
On the 28th October that dream became a reality
for one local birder when during a visit to the Nature Reserve, he discovered
an unusual heron tucked away in some reeds on the River Erewash. After a
hurried visit home to pick up a bird field guide, the birdwatcher finally identified
the heron as a rare juvenile squacco heron – only the fourth ever reported in
Nottinghamshire (previously 1871, 1944 and 1998)!
I was first alerted to the heron’s presence when a very calm
(not jumping all over the place as I would have been) and collected gentleman
came in to the Nature Centre to say that I might be interested to know he had
seen a squacco heron earlier that day. My first reaction was to question the
bird’s identification as a similar bird, the little egret, is a more regular
visitor to the Reserve. But no, this was definitely a squacco.
A frantic five minutes of phone calls to local birdwatchers soon
followed in order to find someone who was nearby to confirm the report. After
an anxious ten minutes more, the call came in confirming that it was indeed a
squacco. Within half an hour crowds had already started to gather in what would
become the biggest ‘twitch’ on the Reserve since the American sora rail in
2003.
The squacco is a short, stocky heron standing less than 50cm
tall (body length only 20cm). It has a short neck and bill with an impressive
wingspan of over 90cm. Juvenile birds have a buff brown back and buff, striped
neck. However, the squacco’s appearance is completely transformed in flight
when they reveal brilliant white wings.
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| Little and Large - Squacco and Grey Heron |
Squacco herons breed in the marshy wetlands of southern
Europe from the Mediterranean to the Middle East – the nearest population [in
the Camargue] is over 1000 miles from Nottingham.
They migrate south for the winter to Africa so
it is very rare to see them further north of their breeding range. It is
thought that this juvenile had been blown off course during migration,
resulting in its arrival at Attenborough.
Visitors from all over the UK
came to see the squacco over the next few days from as far away as Liverpool and the south coast. In all, around 1500 people
were lucky enough to see the heron as it remained in its favourite fishing spot
for over a week. It was last seen on Sunday 6th November when it eventually
flew off in the early evening. It was the first squacco I had seen in my 25
years of birdwatching and will hopefully not be the last.
