What’s the buzz about bee-eaters?
School summer holidays with package trips to foreign climes were once the only way for young birdwatchers to bask in the beauty of bee-eaters.
The brilliant blues and dazzling yellows of these so-called rainbow birds mirror the welcoming colours of the Mediterranean’s perfect skies and sun-drenched beaches.
Little wonder that my first encounter with bee-eaters some five decades ago is still emblazoned on my memory.
A pre-breakfast walk off the tourist trail brought me to a small sand quarry on the margins of Mallorca’s famous La Albufera nature reserve.
The scent of pine, thyme and fennel hung in the air, and nightingales sang with gusto – their rich sound accompanied by the soft, lilting calls of the bird I wanted to see more than any other.
Suddenly, one materialised. There, on a branch drooping over a sand bank, a splendid bee-eater appeared, backlit by dawn’s early light. I was enthralled.
Since the 1980s, bee-eaters have become a poster species for the impact climate change is having on Southern European birds, pushing populations increasingly northwards generation by generation.
Once a fleeting visitor to British shores, bee-eaters have been arriving with such frequency that they are no longer decreed as official rarities, with sightings rising from six birds a year in the 1970s to average annual counts of more than 70.
Very soon they are likely to become established breeding birds here. Since the turn of the new millennia, there have been several nesting attempts around the country but these appear to be increasing with larger numbers coming together to form potential colonies.
Poor weather prevented three pairs producing chicks at a Nottinghamshire gravel pit in 2017, but this summer there are hopes that Norfolk will witness some homegrown bee-eaters.
Up to seven multi-coloured individuals have been delighting a procession of birdwatchers on the outskirts of the village of Trimingham, who gather to watch as the birds sail effortlessly on stiff wings to hunt flying insects.
The birds sail effortlessly on stiff wings to hunt flying insects