Brian Stone
A Stone chatting
What great day yesterday was. I was going to put off doing my WeBS count at a local nature reserve at Stibbington in Cambridgeshire - there is never that much there and it really turns into more of a breeding bird survey at this time of year anyway. But in the end my darling wife persuaded me it was better to get it out of the way so I dutifully headed off. Oh, how I love that woman.
As I got to the track leading to the reserve I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Flying up from the ground was clearly a Hoopoe which flitted up the track and into some trees. I drove on a little further using the car as a hide and watched it for some time with bins as it sat high in a tree.
Part of my incredulity was that exactly one year and ten days earlier I was in my car following a Hoopoe along a road not 5 km away from here as the Hoopoe flollops. Hoopoes are extremely infrequent locally so to find two in so short a time almost defies belief.
Such thoughts were running through my head as I started making calls to local birders. A striking bird like this always draws a crowd but despite much searching a year ago that one was never seen by anyone else. So as the one I was watching flitted off down the line of trees and out of site I could see there was going to be nothing for those arriving to see. Again! The thought of claiming two fanishing Hoopoes was hideous. The word 'stringer' was looming large.
The following three quarters of a hour were agonising. The first birders would be arriving any minute and there was still no sign of it. I had been checking along the line of trees where I had seen it fly and in the fields and huge garden nearby. Then a motorbike went by back at the start of the track and flushed the bird from exactly the same spot where I had first seen it. The little blighter must have doubled back somehow unseen. This time the bird flew towards me and landed in a tree right above my head and put up its crest before flying off out of sight again.
Sure enough the first of the local birders had started to arrive and one had even seen the motorbike but not the bird. However now I was more confident that it would return given a bit of time and space. More arrived and we stationed ourself around the likely area trying to keep the eager birders back from the concrete where the bird had twice returned to feed. Eventually it dropped back onto exactly the same spot and provided some excellent views there despite being flushed again a few times.
It has been looked for today both at this original spot and at a nearby sewage works where it was seen later on Sunday but there is no sign of it. Locals say it was present on Saturday and I hope it is still around but have my doubts.
A walk with the local bird club in the afternoon was particularly good for woodland flowers, including the semi-parasitic Toothwort , Wild Pansy and Arum Lilly among carpets of Bluebells, Wood Anemone, Dog's Mercury and Wild Garlic.
Finally when I arrived to pick up my son from a party later in the afternoon I was presented with a huge female Emperor Moth with a 6cm wingspan. A first for me and just about the most striking insect I have yet seen.
Oh, yes and I did get back to Stibbington today and do the count that I abandoned yesterday where I got my first Cuckoo of the year but little else.
There are some far better pictures of the Hoopoe on the Peterborough Bird Club website and surfbirds but my own snapped efforts are attached.
As I got to the track leading to the reserve I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Flying up from the ground was clearly a Hoopoe which flitted up the track and into some trees. I drove on a little further using the car as a hide and watched it for some time with bins as it sat high in a tree.
Part of my incredulity was that exactly one year and ten days earlier I was in my car following a Hoopoe along a road not 5 km away from here as the Hoopoe flollops. Hoopoes are extremely infrequent locally so to find two in so short a time almost defies belief.
Such thoughts were running through my head as I started making calls to local birders. A striking bird like this always draws a crowd but despite much searching a year ago that one was never seen by anyone else. So as the one I was watching flitted off down the line of trees and out of site I could see there was going to be nothing for those arriving to see. Again! The thought of claiming two fanishing Hoopoes was hideous. The word 'stringer' was looming large.
The following three quarters of a hour were agonising. The first birders would be arriving any minute and there was still no sign of it. I had been checking along the line of trees where I had seen it fly and in the fields and huge garden nearby. Then a motorbike went by back at the start of the track and flushed the bird from exactly the same spot where I had first seen it. The little blighter must have doubled back somehow unseen. This time the bird flew towards me and landed in a tree right above my head and put up its crest before flying off out of sight again.
Sure enough the first of the local birders had started to arrive and one had even seen the motorbike but not the bird. However now I was more confident that it would return given a bit of time and space. More arrived and we stationed ourself around the likely area trying to keep the eager birders back from the concrete where the bird had twice returned to feed. Eventually it dropped back onto exactly the same spot and provided some excellent views there despite being flushed again a few times.
It has been looked for today both at this original spot and at a nearby sewage works where it was seen later on Sunday but there is no sign of it. Locals say it was present on Saturday and I hope it is still around but have my doubts.
A walk with the local bird club in the afternoon was particularly good for woodland flowers, including the semi-parasitic Toothwort , Wild Pansy and Arum Lilly among carpets of Bluebells, Wood Anemone, Dog's Mercury and Wild Garlic.
Finally when I arrived to pick up my son from a party later in the afternoon I was presented with a huge female Emperor Moth with a 6cm wingspan. A first for me and just about the most striking insect I have yet seen.
Oh, yes and I did get back to Stibbington today and do the count that I abandoned yesterday where I got my first Cuckoo of the year but little else.
There are some far better pictures of the Hoopoe on the Peterborough Bird Club website and surfbirds but my own snapped efforts are attached.
Attachments
Last edited:
