A few years in the past my buddy Martin Tickler known as me late on a gray Sunday afternoon. “You gained’t imagine this, David, however there’s a flock of 9 Bee-eaters sitting on the wires within the discipline behind my home.” Bee-eaters are one of the vital vibrant, and delightful, of all European birds, however they’re very scarce guests to Britain. The prospect of seeing 9 in my residence county of Suffolk was irresistible. “I’m coming!” I informed Martin, grabbing my binoculars and digital camera as I spoke.
Martin lives within the quaintly named village of Pixey Inexperienced: it took me half-hour to reach at his home. He greeted me on his drive. “Sure, they’re nonetheless right here, and there’s 15 of them.” Fifteen? I’d have been pleased with only a couple. I used to be led by means of Martin’s densely vegetated backyard to a spot within the hedge, searching over his neighbour’s fields, certainly one of hay, the opposite winter barley. As we walked I might hear the Bee-eaters calling to one another, that stunning, distinctive, rolling name that all the time jogs my memory of sun-baked hills within the Mediterranean.
One of many Pixey Inexperienced Bee-eater flock, Could 2022. This was one of the best {photograph} I managed on a uninteresting, gray Could afternoon
Abruptly, there they had been, an entire line of birds on the wires, plus people swooping after bugs. The phrase swooping is usually misused, however no different chook swoops fairly like a Bee-eater. Martin mentioned that he had famous that the birds had been paired, as there was courtship feeding occurring, with particular person birds returning to their companions to current them with a selection bug. As I watched I stored on counting, not simple with a lot taking place, however I reached a peak of 17, a rating echoed by Martin’s spouse, Homosexual. There was in all probability an 18th someplace round that we didn’t handle to see.
As I used to be armed with my digital camera and lengthy lens I used to be anxious to get footage as proof of this extraordinary sight, however this wasn’t as simple as you may think. The wires the birds had been utilizing had been about 60 yards away, so nearly out of vary of the digital camera, whereas the birds themselves had been surprisingly cautious. As if this wasn’t a ample problem, there was the sunshine, or reasonably the dearth of it. It was uninteresting and flat, the solar obscured by thick cloud. If there’s a chook that want daylight to be seen at its finest, then it’s undoubtedly the Bee-eater. My dream of getting a shocking {photograph} was to not be. I took 150 photographs, of which a number of had been OK, however no extra, and I did get {a photograph} with 15 birds in view without delay. An image of all 17 eluded me.
A part of the flock of 17 birds in Suffolk. The sunshine was dreadful for making an attempt to take pictures
I had been having fun with watching the birds for maybe 40 minutes once I heard the alarm calls of Home Martins (Martin has a colony of between 20 and 30 pairs nesting on his home): that they had been alarmed by a passing sparrowhawk. The Bee-eaters clearly heard the warning calls, too, as abruptly they had been up and away. I used to be certain that such a big flock of those gorgeous birds could be reported elsewhere in Suffolk or Norfolk, however they only disappeared, by no means to be seen once more. By the way, it’s price mentioning that Martin is satisfied that it was the Home Martins that decoyed within the Bee-eaters within the first place, and I’m certain that he’s proper. The Bee-eater flock was little doubt flying over when it heard the calls of the Home Martins, so got here down to analyze.
Watching the Bee-eaters: the RSPB watchpoint, June 2022
Three weeks after our sighting of the flock the RSPB introduced that three pairs of Bee-eaters had been nesting in a disused quarry close to the coastal village of Trimingham, in North Norfolk (50 miles to the north). This was the primary time Bee-eaters had nested in Britain since 2014 (the first-ever profitable nesting in Britain was in Sussex in 1955). Due to a pleasant land-owner, the Norfolk web site was opened for guests, and hundreds of individuals got here to see them. It could have been fascinating to know whether or not any of the Trimingham bee-eaters had been the identical birds that I had seen in Suffolk.
Most views of the Trimingham birds had been fairly distant, like this pair sitting on wires. Wonderful for birdwatchers, not so good for photographers
I visited the Trimingham web site a number of occasions that summer season, taking pals who wished to see the birds. Every time there was a small crowd of fellow watchers. Some had been severe birdwatchers, however many had been individuals who had been simply and had come to see what all of the fuss was about. The RSPB had volunteers available with telescopes to make sure that everybody bought good views.
About my finest shot of the Trimingham birds. They by no means got here near me
The Trimingham Bee-eaters bred efficiently, and far to everybody’s shock, 5 birds returned the next spring. This was the primary time that Bee-eaters had returned to a nesting web site in Britain. Frustratingly, they weren’t profitable: it was suspected that their nest was predated by both Weasels or Stoats. (Bee-eaters are floor nesters, laying their eggs in tunnels that they excavate, making them susceptible to floor predators like Weasels). The RSPB had opened its watch level for a second 12 months, however it was closed early as if the birds remained within the space for a while, they hardly ever returned to the quarry.
This pair of Bee-eaters was photographed in Northern Greece, the place they’re widespread breeding birds
After final 12 months’s failure hopes aren’t excessive the Bee-eaters will return to the identical web site once more this 12 months, however in latest summers rising numbers of Bee-eaters have been recorded in England, so there’s probability that they may attempt to breed elsewhere. They’re late migrants right here, as one of the best time to see them is in late Could or early June, whereas there’s a definite southerly and easterly bias to the counties the place they’ve been seen.
Bee-eaters are floor nesters, making them susceptible to predation
The flock of 17 at Pixey Inexperienced holds the file for the largest flock within the UK this century, and the second greatest ever. The file, a flock of 18 birds, was seen in Oxfordshire in 1997. The variety of birds recorded in Britain has been rising yearly lately, for plainly they like our warming local weather, so it’s a definite risk that these beautiful birds will change into common nesters right here within the UK within the years to come back.
