Bridgnorth birder becomes first in UK to spot rare black-winged kite
A Bridgnorth bird watcher says he is "shocked" and "very lucky" after spotting and recording footage of a black-winged kite - the first time the bird and has been seen in the UK.
Martyn Owen was travelling to work in Newtown, Wales with his wife Laura, when they spotted the flying rarity.
The species of kite is usually only found in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical Asia but has recently gained a foothold within Europe and has been seen as far north as Calais - but it has never been sighted in the wild in the UK before.
So last Tuesday's sighting and footage captured by Mr Owen is thought to be the first sighting of the bird in the UK.
Mr Martyn said: “I was driving to work, my wife was coming with me to do an ecology survey in Newtown.
“I saw a bird on the side of the road that was obviously something very different to what I am used to seeing in the area and the UK.
"Fortunately, there was a pull-in right next to us, we pulled in and then immediately realised what it was – I was in Morocco two weeks before looking at a black wing kite in Morocco, so I had a very fresh mental image of what they look like.”
He added that what followed was a "frantic" five minutes as the pair tried to get the black-winged kite in shot.
He said: “We were just hoping the bird would stick around for others to see. But relatively quickly after about five minutes it drifted off to the west, we jumped in the car and tried to follow it along the road but it had disappeared from view behind some buildings and some woodland.
“That was it - five minutes of complete mayhem that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
He added that he was now "the envy of the birder community".
"My phone has been ringing none-stop. It has been like winning the lottery twice in a week. I've been a birder all my life and this is really special. It is such a beautiful bird - it;s the one they have all been after."
As soon as he captured the winged rarity, Mr Owen, who runs an ecological consultancy, and is a professional ornithologist took to Twitter to let his followers know.
He tweeted: "I've been a birder my whole life - today I achieved the dream. Black-winged Kite = first for Britain! Over a cereal field in mid-Wales!"
He said the bird has now been verified as a first sighting by the British Bird Rarity Commission (BBRC).
