Hoopoe!

 

A huge thank you to Marie and John for finding this Hoopoe and kindly allowing me to view it from their home. It's occasionally getting in their back garden but also spending time in the field behind their house, and presumably other gardens on Foxholes. One of the very few places that the area can be viewed from is on Gore Lane. The gateway immediately to the right of the track that leads down to the Bristol Schools camp allows you to look across to three large hawthorns that border the garden. Can I stress that this gateway, or others, must not be blocked and cars should be parked sensibly on Gore Lane, preferably at the top where there's a bit more space.

Orcombe Point was quiet this morning but some hirundine passage was evident with 45 Swallow tracking west. A single Swift also went west early on and a Tree Pipit went over east.

The White-winged Black Tern was watched feeding off Starcross from 0740 - 0800, from the Imperial, along with 6+ Common Tern. Nine Teal were in with the large Mallard flock.

Mudbank, mid-afternoon - 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 7+ Mediterranean Gull, 10+ Common Gull, 4+ Whimbrel, 190+ Mallard, 1 Redshank and the first returning Wigeon.

 

John and Marie have a stunning garden with a lovely lawn that clearly has enough invertebrates in it to keep this bird coming back. It performed beautifully, just a few metres away from the back of the house, but it looked wary and only spent a few minutes in view before flying into the field behind. Hoopoes have been reported from Foxholes in the past but they've never stayed and I've never managed to catch up with them. Not only is this the first I've seen on Orcombe, it's the first I've seen in Exmouth.