European Bee-eater

Comment by Scott Lamont

July 2010

Bee-Eater Pair - presumed to be European Bee-Eater. Adlington Golf Centre, approx 7.30pm. Thursday 29th July.

Seen initially from distance in silhouette. Initially thought cuckoo (long tail). Pair were flying and interacting together. As they got closer, I then thought parakeet (can be sure they were not as sounds/call completley different) but as they flew past and turned in mid air, it was clear they were bee-eaters (lot of blue colouring on the back, long black bill and long tail) They then flew into the Woodford Airfield and didnt come back towards me. Obviously, I would have liked a picture but I did not have my camera with me. I have played the calls and sounds on my iPhone App, combined with the visual records I'm 100% sure they were Bee-Eaters. I have seen these birds in Spain and Africa many times. Due to the rarity of these birds in Cheshire (not sure when the last records was?), I would understand if you did not want to report this without a picture. I can only report what I saw.


Scott Lamont