Lockdown foils rare sightseers ‘‘

Birdwatching has led me into a few sticky situations over the years. I’ve been shot at by a gun maniac in Scotland, arrested by Turkish soldiers and protected from a mob by African presidential bodyguards.

Natural threats have also put me at the mercy of hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and the sharp fangs of snakes and bears. A bullet ant sting – officially the most painful delivered by any insect – left me rolling in agony for 24 hours during an expedition in the Central American rainforest. Nothing, however, has been quite as exasperating as the recent arrival of a rare bird on my doorstep – in scenes straight out of Midsomer Murders.

Aficionados of the ITV drama will remember a 2012 episode when members of the Midsomer-in-the-Marsh Ornithological Society were sent into a flap by the arrival of a blue-crested hoopoe. The resulting body count was, as you might expect, gruesome.

Fortunately, the local Bedfordshire Police chiefs have not needed to launch any homicide inquiries, however, officers were called out a number of times after a wayward hoopoe arrived in the picturebook village of Northill.

Watching a hoopoe with its powder-pink plumage, chequerboard wing pattern and ornate crest should be a thing of celebration. But not in lockdown.

These are birds of warmer climes. The one spending autumn in and around our local village school should have been on its way from the Mediterranean to sub-Saharan Africa. Somehow it migrated in the opposite direction.

News of its arrival soon had birdwatchers flocking but, without wishing to sound sanctimonious, I could not justify breaching lockdown regulations for a glimpse, and certainly did not wish to put more pressure on the thin blue line.

“We understand that people will want to see this rare sighting, but those visiting the site must abide by government rules, which are there to stop the spread and keep everyone safe,” a Bedfordshire Police spokesman explained to me.

“In this particular instance, we were called to concerns that people were gathering in groups of around five to seven which is clearly in breach.

“They were given advice and subsequently dispersed from the area.”

We know people want to see the hoopoe but rules must be followed