birds of dawlish warren

International
Declining markedly since the 1970s, c.200,000 individuals remain, breeding in Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and Peru, and wintering in Uruguay to Tierra del Fuego†.

Europe
Since the 1980s, up to 10 - 20 pairs nest in most years at Zwillbrocker Venn, Germany, and in the early 1990s, 9 - 18 pairs nested in the Netherlands.  They follow a distinct migratory pattern, wintering in Holland on the Ijsselmeer.  The mixed flamingo flock, comprising of mainly Chilean, plus small numbers of possibly native wild bred Greater (P. ruber roseus), and a few escapee Caribbean (P. r. ruber), occasional escapee Lesser Flamingo (P. minor) and hybrids, has exceeded 300 birds†, but the Chilean component is considered to be stable at about 40 birds†.

Great Britain and Devon
Apart from being known as an occasional escapee from wildfowl collections and a suspected wanderer from the German/Dutch population†, little is known about the number at large, or of their patterns of occurrence and movement.

Dawlish Warren

As was the fashion many years ago, escapees were unrecorded in the Devon Bird Reports and consequently this record was omitted from subsequent county avifaunas††.