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It's a funny old business this birding lark. On any given day, you can spend hours and walk miles looking for a bird, and the following day the same bird will just appear right in front of you within minutes. Such is the tale of the past two days.
I drew the curtains back just before 6am this morning and it was how you would expect August to be - a cobalt blue sky, and not a breath of wind. A complete contrast to the November-style evening 12 hours earlier. I was planning another 15-minute drive up the road to Coulsdon to find the local Hoopoe again.
I must have spent at least four hours yomping round the Downs, on a wild Hoopoe chase, yesterday morning, so I didn't intend to go through that again. As it was flying around a lot yesterday, it seemed a better idea to walk along the top path close to the road and set up shop halfway along. I would have a panoramic view of the area, and if the Hoopoe appeared, I could see where it was heading.
I parked up at 6.20am as the sun broke through the early morning mist. I found the ideal spot and waited.
I didn't have to wait long. Within half-an-hour I saw the Hoopoe in the distance flying across the trees like a giant butterfly and then heading in my direction. At first I thought it was going to land on the path but instead it settled in a small tree just 20 yards away, and perched up nicely in the sunshine. Perfect.
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And there it stayed, occasionally preening itself, blinking in the sunlight, in no hurry to go anywhere. I took a few dodgy digiscope photos to record the event and posted the sighting on Birdguides. A couple of other birders joined me and we had excellent views of this extremely scarce Surrey visitor for the next ten minutes or so, until a dog-walker forced it to fly back the way it came. It briefly settled on top of a large tree before dropping down out of view.
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A few more birders arrived an hour later, but the Hoopoe didn't reappear, although while we hung about we got great views of a stunning pair of Lesser Whitethroat in a bush nearby. By 9am, with a fair bit of magazine work to be getting on with, I headed home happy.
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If only more days were like this.
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