Hoopoe in Middleton

(c) Gordon Howe

The above image was taken by Gordon Howe out of the dining room window. This bird was first seen by Gordon and Beryl's son Jem two days earlier in the lane alongside the Nitten Field (SS423875) and despite brief appearances elsewhere, including Barrie & Maragaret Swinnerton's garden, seems to favour the area in and around Nitten.

(c) Alun John
bird on track alongside Nitten early aftenoon

This is the 13th Hoopoe to be found in Glamorgan since 2000, the distribution of records shown by the larger red dots (2013 centred black) on the map below, smaller dots showing pre-2000 records. The map reveals that these bird have turned up at seemingly random sites all along the coastal lowlands, with April being the peak month.