Rare spoonbill bird spotted at urban park
Jon IrwinA bird which had been absent from the UK since the 17th Century until recently has been spotted at a town park.
Jon Irwin, an amateur photographer from Middlesbrough, travelled to Rossmere Park in Hartlepool to look for owls he had heard were nesting in a lakeside tree when he saw the Eurasian spoonbill.
He spotted it in foliage perched near to five egrets and stayed for an hour and a half to capture the best picture.
Irwin said it was going to be a long time before he spotted something as "monumental" again.
He said: "I noticed there were five egrets in the trees on the island and it was only as I looked at them I spotted another one and thought 'hang on a second, that is not an egret'.
"It eventually moved and I saw the unmistakable bill with a yellow tip."
The spoonbill appears to be alone but has stayed on the island in Rossmere Park for several days, delighting local birdwatchers.
Andrea MolyneauxSpoonbills began to reappear along the south coast in the late 1990s after being absent from the UK for more than 300 years.
Tees Wildlife Trust manager Steve Ashton said the closest breeding pair to Hartlepool was in West Yorkshire.
"They quite often pop up at RSPB Saltholme but seeing them in the urban environment is a bit less normal," he said.
"Spoonbills have started to appear again over the past 10 years."
Tees Rivers Trust project manager Judy Power said it was "unusual" for one to be seen in such a public place.
She said: "It is lovely to hear we have a spoonbill in the park, they breed mostly in Norfolk.
"I have seen the rare visitor around the Tees in the past but I would think it shows the park's lake has a healthy ecosystem for it to settle and find food."
The trust advised people to keep a "safe and respectful" distance from the bird to avoid disturbing it.
