Well I finally had to give in to temptation and go and see the Nottinghamshire Bee-eaters, with them breeding a little over forty miles from my home it would have been crazy not to. So it was that my brother and I took an evening drive over to East Leake where we hoped to catch up with these harlequin plumed smashers. Things looked good as the clouds which had blighted most of the day parted and we were treated to some lovely evening sunshine.
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| Not your average British sign! |
On arrival we coughed up the five quid for parking (cheap at half the price) and headed over to the watchpoint, it was a case of following the dead grass trail to the point where the Bee-eaters showed best from. Luckily for us there was a woman scoping a distant pair in a hedge so we connected immediately. We were able to watch this couple for a few minutes before they both disappeared but from then on at least two showed intermittently though always at some distance. Hearing that call that I associate so much with the Mediterranean seems a little strange here in the Midlands but if it becomes a regular feature of our Summers I will not complain!
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Distant but unmistakeable.
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| Living up to its name. |
Conscious that the car park geezer might want to close up we departed after a while and headed back. On the way to the parking we found four Bee-eaters perching in a Hawthorn making occasional feeding sallies before returning to their perches. It was a nice way to finish a most satisfactory evening's twitching and they were also the first British Bee-eaters that I've caught up with since August Bank Holiday 1984 at Gibraltar Point. It's a shame that all of my pictures of them were a bit duff but that isn't going to stop me sharing a few with you - enjoy.
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| Closer but still a pretty awful photo. |
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