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This is quite possible. I've just flicked through
my notebooks. On the 21st May 1997 I saw 17 Bee-eaters in Fulbrook which is
north-Gloucestershire. Quite far from Tormarton. Bee-eaters have bred in the UK
too, most recently last summer around Newcastle (for those unfamiliar, this is
about half way to Scotland and about 250 miles north of
Glucestershire).
This brings to mind the comments about seabirds
posted earlier and whether there are climatic factors at play. Most probably
there are, although seabird-wise, Great Shears and Wilson's Storm Petrels have
always been around. It's just that thousands of birders these days are going out
to see them. Pelagics happen about every weekend from numerous places off the SW
coast during the autumn. More birders are doing the Biscay trips too where it is
possible to see hundreds of thousands of Great Shearwaters in a couple of days
if the conditions are right. This does not seem to be unusual but was unheard of
years ago because no-one was going on these trips to do birding. More people are
aware of these things so many more are being reported.
The increase in the number of birders regularly
working around the UK at weekends in the last decade has been astronomical. 1 in
every 65 people in the country is now a member of the Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds (RSPB) who are one of the largest NGOs. When I began
'twitching' in the early '90s, a large crowd at a bird would be a few hundred,
these days it's a few thousand.
Regards,
Simon.
_____________________________________________
Simon Mustoe - Director
AES Applied Ecology Solutions Pty Ltd.
59 Joan
Avenue
Ferntree Gully
Melbourne
Victoria 3156
AUSTRALIA
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