Hoopoe at Sand Bay, Weston-super-Mare
Amazingly there has been a hoopoe at Sand Bay near Weston-super-Mare for the last 3 days. Many thanks to Paul Bowyer for tweeting about it this morning as I'd probably have missed it otherwise. This showy visitor was on the grassy area behind the beach near Swallow Point Caravan Park and was helpfully signposted by a number of birders when I arrived this morning. It was relatively mobile although not nearly as spooked by the many dog walkers as I'd have thought it would be. It fed more or less continually, throwing morcels of food in the air and swallowing them rather like a bloke in a pub with a packet of peanuts.
The light was beautiful although this actually caused a few problems with correctly exposing this contrasty bird. Still I'm very pleased to have added a UK lifer to my list and to have managed the photos below. Most of the shots were taken with the 600mm f4 with the Canon 2x TC added. I think I could have done with stopping down a little more to get a bit more sharpness.
There was a bonus bird in the form of a kestrel that perched very nearby and seemed almost less concerned by the walkers than the hoopoe.
