This morning at the same time as I was watching 4 Spoonbill on WWT Steart Otterhampton marsh I had a phone call from Roger Musgrove to say he just had another fly across the road heading towards Stockland Marsh. so we now have 5 Spoonbill in the Steart area

In addition to the 3 Spoonbills were 1 Little Stint, 2 Spotted Redshank, 3 Ruff, 5 Dunlin and 1 Knot from Quantock hide screen at 18.00

Thanks for the responses. I did not really think that they were wild birds but nobody expected Brown Booby until 2 weeks ago. I was with a friend over from Texas who is a widely travelled ornithologist. When we first saw them we thought American Wigeon but once they had landed and we got a better view, the head colour and shape on the “male” bird caused us to think again. The Collins guides in the hide did not include Chiloe so we had to wait until later to look online to confirm ID. I can only say that the other 3 birds had no significant head pattern, were more or less uniform buff/brown above including head, paler than a European Wigeon female, but in flight they showed clear white wing bars similar to those in American but not nearly as broad as the “male”. Looking online again, it seems possible that it was a female (if they also have prominent white in the wing) and 3 juveniles.

I’ve got Chiloe Wigeon on my Torr Reservoir list, a pair a few years ago

Chiloe Wigeon are from South America, so unlikely to make their own way over - there was a drake regularly at Catcott last year & 2 hybrids at Chew; also hybrid drake at Slimbridge 2 days ago. Wonder if they’re actually 1 adult & 3 juveniles (as male & female look quite similar)...

The 3 Spoonbills were still visible on Otterhampton Marsh this morning. Waders were thin on the ground but I did identify Common Sand, Greenshank, Blackwit and Redshank. The highlight was a male and 3 female CHILOE Wigeon that flew in at around 10.30 and swam around the pool to the right of the hide until I left. Probably not wild birds but apparently other species from the Americas are turning up recently.

All 3 Spoonbill on WWT Steart Otterhampton marsh today at 15.30 viewed from the Quantock hide

  Apologies for late posting.  Earlier (11am) on Thursday, the 3 Spoonbills had been on the lagoon N. of the breach, together with 21 Little Egrets, before all were flushed by a photographer.  Also a Ruff on Stockland Marsh.

3 Spoonbills at Steart WWT from Quantocks Hide this afternoon