Rare kingfisher sighting in Preston draws thousands
It is perhaps the biggest American star to visit Preston in years. A “spectacular” shaggy-crested belted kingfisher has drawn several thousand people to a nature reserve in Lancashire for one of the bird’s few recorded UK sightings in more than 100 years.
The North American bird usually migrates to Mexico or the Caribbean for winter but is thought to have ended up in Preston after getting blown across the ocean by an Atlantic storm.
Nick Moran, of the British Trust for Ornithology, said it was only the fifth recorded sighting of a belted kingfisher in the UK since 1908 – and the first “truly twitchable” one in years because of the length of its stay.
The striking-looking bird was first spotted in October but has drawn interest from birdwatchers across the country after seemingly taking up residence at Brockholes nature reserve in Preston.
George Shannon, who recorded one of its earliest sightings, said he was blown away when the belted kingfisher landed in front of him: “I got my binoculars on it and genuinely couldn’t believe the image I was seeing. I thought ‘it’s a belted kingfisher but it can’t possibly be a belted kingfisher’. My heart was pounding out of my chest.”
It is only the second time since 1908 that a belted kingfisher has been recorded in the UK outside Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly, where they usually make landfall.
Tony Baker, a local site manager at the RSPB, said he went to see the bird before Christmas along with 300 to 400 keen birdwatchers – but estimates it will have been seen by “several thousand” people by now.
“A lot of birdwatchers become very interested in chasing rarities and adding new species to their life lists and this is one of those that turns up very, very rarely so it generates an enormous amount of excitement,” he said.
“Apart from the fact it’s very rare, it’s also a fairly spectacular species that everybody can appreciate. It’s a terrific thing to see.”