A bird more at home in baking Mediterranean heat than an East Coast winter has joined the vanguard of foreign species making the most of global warming to head for Britain.

The first glossy ibis of the year has been spotted in Lincolnshire and leading ornithologists believe that the species is here to stay.

It is thought to be just a matter of time before the species, along with the spoonbill and the cattle egret, is breeding successfully in Britain. Climate change is held by researchers to be the prime factor in the spread of the glossy ibis and other birds.

The ibis which reached Lincolnshire on January 31 is thought to have made its way to Britain intentionally rather than simply being blown in by storms.It was born in southern Spain in 2006 where it was ringed as a chick and it followed several glossy ibis that flew to Britain during 2007, including a 17-strong flock.

At least a dozen reached Lincolnshire, the first seen in the county in 30 years, and the sighting of the Spanish-born bird just over a week ago supported claims that their arrival is a trend rather than a blip, according to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

“It looks like it made its way here intentionally,” said Mark Grantham, of the BTO. “Birds respond to changes in climate and look for new breeding areas.” He said there had been speculation that the species might have been preparing to breed last year in Britain for the first time and the fresh arrival has boosted hopes that it might do so in 2008.

Spoonbills, another species that has been seen increasingly in Britain, having flown in from mainland Europe, managed to breed last year but none of the brood survived. The wetland species, which is already found to breed as far north as the Netherlands, is extremely sensitive to being disturbed so needs isolated areas to raise its young.

Cattle egrets are another rare visitor that reach British shores more frequently than they did in the early 1980s. Sightings have risen from two locations between 1981-84 to 44 in recent months. “These are the colonial water birds,” said Mr Grantham. “Cattle egrets have turned up in exceptional numbers. There were flocks of 10-15 last year and quite a few are still around. Cattle egrets are doing very well. Over the last 10-15 years they’ve cropped up in a lot of areas where they were never seen before. Spoonbills are increasingly common.”

All three species are expected to follow the colonisation pattern already seen with the little egret — sighted only once during compilation of the BTO’s bird atlas 1981-84 but are now found in more than 600 places. Little egret numbers suddenly increased from 1989. Seven years later they were recorded as breeding successfully in Dorset. Today about 1,600 are estimated to remain over winter and more than 160 pairs are thought to breed.

Roger Riddington, editor of British Birds magazine, said: “We have had unprecedented numbers in recent years of cattle egrets and spoonbills and in the last couple of years there certainly have been more glossy ibis. It is partly down to climate change without a doubt.”

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