Mega dash back to the motherland!

A nice relaxed day's birding in Norfolk (as a change of scenery) with Carl was rather changed as we stood on the East Bank at Cley; news had just come through of a Pacific Swift at Trimley Marshes, back in our home county of Suffolk - a species we had joked about finding only an hour earlier as we scanned through the masses of Swifts feeding over the reserve. 

Mindful that this species is normally fleeting in its appearances, we calmly continued out walk along East Bank, had a scan out to sea, and then returned to our car at the visitor centre. And the swift was still being reported... Should we go for it? Taking on the old adage 'fortune favours the bold', we abandoned our chilled out day, and went into twitcher mode, heading straight for Trimley. Frustrated by slow drivers on the back roads behind Cley, the lack ofroad signs in Holt, and the innumerable traffic lights in Norwich, we eventually made it to Ipswich, where the decision was; do we park on Cordy Lane in Trimley as per the pager instructions, or use our local knowledge and park in Levington Marina? The later is a considerably shorter walk, and we duly found ourselves parked up next to the river. 

Looking towards Trimley from Levington - that looks a long way...

The route-march along the riverbank was rather tense, but we arrived at the northern end of Trimley Marshes to discover that the Pacific Swift was still showing well in front of the northern hide, and enjoyed good views of the bird for the next half hour or so amongst lots of Common Swifts. Our gamble had paid off! We took in it's features as it fed over the marshes, and what a bird it was; there is something very sexy about a swift with a white rump! 

Some twitchers

Thumbs up from Carl!

It then vanished, and after 10 or 15 minutes of fruitless scanning a weather front rolled in, sending us running for the nearest hide - already full. All the Swifts had become more distant and had moved higher as the rain lashed down, and there was no sign of the Pacific. After 40 minutes or so there was a break in the weather, so we decided to head back to the car; it would've been nice to see the bird again (which was reported once more when we'd got back to Loompit Lake), but hey, I shouldn't complain!

It was a bit weird being back in Suffolk on such a flying visit, and indeed only a few miles from home (across the Orwell) - I could see Clamp House, and my old patch on Shotley Marshes. Speaking to David Walsh when I got home, I found out that the Pacific Swift had actually flown across the river (i.e. over to Shotley Marshes) at about 1pm, before coming back. Now that would've been a good patch tick!

Rain rolling down the Orwell, looking towards The Clamp

An interesting article about potential Pacific Swift splits on the Birdwatch website, and a finders account of the this bird on Birding Frontiers - the stuff of dreams...