I’ve been here for 68 years

Towards the end of the year I was passing the time by the marsh. It was surprisingly quiet, the Moorhens were clucking about and a solitary Green Sandpiper was probing the mud.

A small flock of Teal were asleep on one of the tussocks and a similarly small flock of Swallows swooped by for a few minutes.

I drank my coffee, read a few emails, and noticed there were several reports of interesting birds not too far away. I wondered if something unusual would visit, but if you aren’t there you won’t know.

So I sat there in the shade, and eventually ran out of coffee and felt a bit chill. Time to move on.

Then Richard turned up. I put on my jumper and coat and we chatted for an hour. I never did really warm up.

At more or less the same moment we spotted something distant flying towards us, we both looked at it through bins, “Cormorant” “no, it’s a Heron, no it’s not, it’s it’s it’s a Glossy Ibis”!!!

There may be twenty or thirty in the whole of the UK. We haven’t seen one on the marsh for three years. One of the emails I read about rare birds in Berkshire was that one had been seen earlier in the day, and another said it had gone.

It circled around wings outstretched and settled into the margins of the marsh and immediately started looking for food.

Soon Richard and I had company as some more folks turned up. Cameras were trained on it.

In all the excitement I had forgotten how late it was and how cold I was.

I had to go. I walked around the edges of the marsh for half an hour with the dogs, and the sun came out. Glossy Ibises are called that for a reason. They have the most stunning iridescent plumage, so I had to turn back and have another look before heading home.

By the time I got back some of my oldest birdwatching companions were there. I hadn’t seen some of them for many years and they’ve all been here a lot longer than me. I’ve seen them many times before, by chance in Norfolk and along the South coast. Most often at the birdwatchers hotspots more locally. They’ve even helped make the marsh suitable for Glossy ibises.

Here we all were, and the Glossy Ibis was hiding in the reeds. We did all get glimpses of it though, but it brought us together once more before I had to leave and head home.

With bird migration accelerating and changeable weather overnight the omens are very good, I wonder what will be there in my 69th year?