The Magnificent Seven

With the exception of a long-staying individual which spent a week in Swanage whilst I was on a family holiday a few years ago, migrant Bee-eaters don't seem to hang around for long in Dorset. Wednesday 15th May was an intense day at work, so much so that it wasn't until some time after arriving home that I tuned in to the local grapevine to find that a flock of seven had spent the afternoon at Durlston Country Park. Long-suffering readers may recall that in a previous life I once had the privilege of having this superb Dorset Council facility under my professional wing.

Finishing dinner with the family about 1830, I realised that there was still plenty of time to get to Swanage before dusk and finally add this spectacular southern European species to my Dorset list. My good friend Jol Mitchell was on site and had offered advice on precisely where to head. but on meeting up with him, one of the Durlston Rangers and Phyl England near the visitor centre, there was no sign of the flock. After ten minutes everyone started to head their separate ways and I found myself alone in the meadow where they were last seen. A minute or so after everyone else had disappeared from view I heard a faint but unmistakeable 'bloop-bloop' call from the south east, and within seconds the equally unmistakeable shape of a Bee-eater appeared over the tree-line.

I gave my loudest possible whistle in the hope of attracting the attention of those who had just left and fortunately they all heard me and re-joined me in the meadow. We had reasonable but not exactly close views of what looked like four or five birds, mostly in the air but occasionally perching in Ash trees around the perimeter of the meadow. From our angle it looked like they might be feeding over the famous Long Meadow to the east of the access road, so I headed there and tucked in under the trees next to the road. Sure enough, for the next hour the Bee-eaters made repeated sallies around the area, performing some impressive acrobatics in pursuit of Durlston's healthy population of flying insects.

As if this wasn't exotic enough, at one point the air filled with the raucous sound of parakeets, refugees, we assumed of the tiny population of Ring-necked Parakeets from Studland. Three birds circled the long meadow and with one obviously larger than the others we assumed it would be an adult with two juveniles. On closer inspection of photographs, however, it later emerged that the big one was an Alexandrine Parakeet - a native of India with feral populations in various European countries.

Yorkshire Rosy

Yesterday's Yellow Warbler was considerate enough to wait until my family holiday in Yorkshire was over before appearing in Dorset - we got back on Saturday after an enjoyable week in God's Own County. While birding wasn't really the main objective of the trip north so much as enjoying the varied landscapes and loafing on sofas and cinema seats to indulge our shared family passion for Marvel and DC Comics movies, a few opportunities to enjoy the birdlife of the area were inevitably worked into the itinerary. A couple of trips to the seabird colony at Bempton were among them (more on those later), and there was even time to shoehorn in a mini-twitch when a Rose-Coloured Starling was conveniently discovered in a Scarborough garden when we were just a few miles away. My ever tolerant family agreed to wait in the car while I squeezed into the small suburban front yard to which the homeowner had kindly allowed birders access so they could view the Starling at the rear of the property. After a short wait and it gave a couple of extended views - the smartest adult I think I have seen of this species in Britain. Pictures and a few other highlights of the trip north below.

Rose-coloured Starling, Scarborough, 13th August

The bird was attracted to feeders in the backyards of the town

An appropriate perch for a bird

Rose-coloured Starling breeds in the eastern-most parts of Europe and across Southern Asia

An attractive bird in a typical setting for the species in Britain

On the subject of colourful birds, a two mile detour off the M1 on our way north was all it took to catch up with the East Midlands celebrated flock of Bee-eaters, which, following an unsuccessful breeding attempt in neighbouring Notts, had skipped across the border to Leicestershire to further extended their stay. A shame they weren't able to produce any young successfully, though with another continental European visitor associated with warmer climes, the Black-winged Stilt, making a good fist of colonising the UK this year, it seems likely there will be further attempts by the Bee-eater to do so.

The Bee-eaters were a bit distant but telescope views were very good

Here one comes in to land after a feeding sally

All seven birds can be seen in this picture (click to enlarge)

I was just about within range to hear their 'blooping' calls

A riot of colour in flight.

Lower Valley of the River Doubs

Imagine Stodmarsh merged with Lakenheath, add a bunch of Bee-eaters, Night Herons, Purple Herons, Great White Egrets and Red-backed Shrikes and you have some impression of the Lower Valley of the River Doubs near Dole in Eastern France. Turtle Doves, Golden Orioles and Nightingales provided the music on this brief stop on the way home from Geneva to Dorset after a week's holiday. Access to the river bank colonised by Bee-eaters was not so much restricted as discouraged by 'Beware of the Bull' signs erected everywhere by French farmers with a surprising concern for public health and safety. Eventually the desire to get good photos of Bee-eater overcame a deep fear of cattle instilled by a bizzare scope-bearing sprint around Oare Marshes to escape the attentions of some frisky Fresians a few years ago. Fortunately their French cousins turned out to be pretty placid, enabling some acceptable shots to be taken before the heat and the horse-flies forced a retreat.