Where did the Eurasian Spoonbill seen in April come from?

I hope you saw the images I posted last week of this long-distance traveller (see the archive or scroll down the list of reports to find on the diary page). The results of the recent Eurasian Spoonbill that was seen at WWT Slimbridge from 16-22 April are as follows...

The bird had been ringed as a chick in a nest at a Waddensea Island Schiermonnikoog, a National Parc of 5400 hectare of which the ringer is the manager (Otto Overdijk). Its the easternmost Waddensea island, close to border of Germany and was ringed on 20 June 2006, and was seen around its hatching site until 30 August. It was seen twice in the company of five other Spooners in Barnstaple in Devon in October 2006, before being observed (by the original Dutch ringer!) at the Banc d’Arguin National Park which is on the Atlantic coast of Mauritania in West Africa in November 2006. The next sighting was at WWT Slimbridge when Nick Goatman found it on the WWT Slimbridge 100 Acre reserve in Gloucestershire. After feeding around the reserve and fattening up it toured the county being seen at GWT Coombe Hill reserve before arriving on 24 April at the North Norfolk Cley Bird Reserve. This bird was reported a few times from the platform to 25th at least but as you see, this cannot be possible. One must be careful of Little Egret when they fly in to the marsh or even past as they stretch their necks out in an aggressive display. They are territorial over feeding areas and this behaviour is seen daily, either that or we have another Spooner around.

What a star and the combination was clinched by a digital image. It is so good to know that the WWT reserve is a re-fueling stop for so many birds. I saw it last on Sunday morning but do not know if it was seen after this.

MJM.