Alpine swift, Elton Reservoir

My first alpine swift in the UK for 40 years at Elton reservoir, Bury today. After going missing for two and a half hours it conveniently decided to reappear just as I arrived and showed amazingly well for an hour at least, though photography was always difficult due to poor light and extreme speeds by this awesome flier.

There's been an influx of alpine swifts over the past couple of weeks, with multiple records from several locations and as many as nine together at one site in Ireland. Prior to todays bird the closest "twitchable" individuals were at Llandudno, but I've been putting off travelling far in the hope that one would come closer.

I parked at my usual spot to the south of the reservoir and started walking, and within five minutes of setting off I spotted the bird flying high over the fields to the south. By the time I reached the bank of the reservoir and joined the other birders there, it had dropped much lower and showed really well. 

I've seen plenty of alpine swift in Europe and as recently as 5 weeks ago found two in India, but my only other UK bird was at Staines reservoir in 1983. This bird brings my North West list to 376 species.