Last week a purple gallinule was reported to be present in an overgrown ditch about 30 miles from my home. The bird immediately attracted a lot of attention from the hardcore birdwatcher (twitchers) who raced from the corners of the UK to see the bird. However, doubts and debate raged as to the origins of the bird, which is not considered very migratory, and which was identifed as being of the Indian race given its grey head colouring. The bird was not banded and free flying and there were no reports of any escapes from zoos or collections.
So given it was so local I decided last Sunday to pay it a visit and try and get some photographs. The bird had taken up residence in a deep overgrown ditch and it took a couple of hours effort before I managed to get some photos of it in the clear. While I was there many locals passed and were aware of the bird, which by now had reached local celebrity status due to the crowds it was attracting, and they informed me it had been present for over three weeks. While I was there good numbers of people came to see the bird and a bankside debate continued to rage as to its origins. Apparently shortly after I left two locals turned up with nets claiming the bird to be theirs and it had escaped from their back garden. Seems a strange species to keep as a pet and it just goes to show you never know what people keep in their back gardens! They eventually caught the elusive bird after several days of it evading their attempt of capture.
For me the fact that it was an escapee was irrelevent as it was a great bird to see and very beautiful. The 'twitchers' however were less than happy, as they could not count it as a 'tick' on their lists.
Here is a photo of the bird happily stripping grass seed heads.
I think you might have a Purple Swamphen rather than a Purple Gallinule. Purple Gallinules have green backs, yellow legs, and blue shields (and some other differences). The swamphen is not quite as exotic range-wise, I think they occur as close to you as France.
Interesting capture and story. There has been a Barnacle Goose somewhere around here for years that has not been counted but has been accepted now as no one knows if it is an escapee or if it got here somehow on its own.
Thanks for the comments. In the UK, Purple Swamphen and Purple Gallinule seem to be interchangeable terms. This bird was identified by the bird watchers as either being P. p. poliocephalus or P. p. caspius but I will that judgement to them :).
Axel we have a similar problem locally with Barnacle Geese but they are automatically assumed to be feral birds.
The strange case of the Purple Gallinule
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