Wryneck at Gastonbury Abbey (1 Viewer)

[shearwater333]

I've just been to visit the abbey for the first time since I moved here. Walking around the grounds I heard what I thought was a bird of prey calling. I tracked it down where it was calling from high in the branches and then followed it as it flew off to another tree where I got a slightly better view. Unfortunately I was without either specs and binoculars but I have seen wryncks before in Spain and I really think it was one but is that possible at this time of year or am I most likely mistaken? I'll go back tomorrow armed with camera and binoculars and update this post.....

 

[cates]

i once missed one by half an hour at nuesiedler in osterich, i actually saw one for a full half a minute on a fence post outside where i used to work in bedfordshire. my one and only sighting.

 

[davercox]

As far as I remember, when Wrynecks were regular breeders in England, they used to be reckoned one of the earlier arrivals, certainly appearing in March. I don't know what the passage dates are for Scandinavian birds.

 

[Steve Lister]

Early April is the usual time for odd migrants to start appearing.

What about Lesser Spotted Woodpecker? The song is not disissimilar, suggesting a small falcon. And if it was a naked eye observation........

Steve

 

[StarainBoy]

You'd have to go back to Cornwall in 2005 for the last confirmed March wryneck in this country and probably the only one in the last ten years. Not that history is that good a guide...

 

[Simon Wates]

Wrynecks are definitely on the move - a few have appeared in the Algarve since last week.