Local birder Alan Petherbridge was visiting The Rye at High Wycombe on Thursday 12th March when he saw a Dipper fly past him along the Dyke at fairly close range. He posted the sighting on Bucks Going Birding database and that led to David Bevan visiting the site at dawn the following day.
David quickly found the bird perched on the waterfall at the eastern end of the Dyke and put the word out. It was of the continental (black-bellied)race. By 7am several local birders were on site and managed to get excellent views of the bird. However it disappeared just before 10:30am and was not seen again that day.
The following morning (14th) the bird was re-found and was seen on and off all day either near to the waterfall or close to the streams nearby.
Dippers are very scarce birds in Buckinghamshire with only 14 prior records. The last record in 2016 was in Milton Keynes and only seen by a handful of people. Prior to that the previous record was way back in 1994! Interestingly a Dipper was reported at Wycombe Rye in September and November 1984, so the site does appear to be attractive to any Dippers passing through (but clearly a very rare event!).