To tick or not? tricky question. If it was the South East of England, no worries, the feral population is well established and spreading. But this far west? and where would they have come from? Looking at the new Atlas (superb book), there is a spread westwards along the Thames valley. There is confirmed breeding in the upper Severn estuary area - escapees from Slimbridge or outliers from the Thames valley population? and a wide scatter of wintering records in Wales. At this stage, I probably wouldn't tick any west of Swindon, but these could be pioneers from the established population, so would be as tickable as any in the UK.
To tick or not? tricky question. If it was the South East of England, no worries, the feral population is well established and spreading. But this far west? and where would they have come from? Looking at the new Atlas (superb book), there is a spread westwards along the Thames valley. There is confirmed breeding in the upper Severn estuary area - escapees from Slimbridge or outliers from the Thames valley population? and a wide scatter of wintering records in Wales. At this stage, I probably wouldn't tick any west of Swindon, but these could be pioneers from the established population, so would be as tickable as any in the UK.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see a comment and dam fine write up martin. I think the answer is no and when I see some sundew I will give you a shout.
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