birding-aus

European Bee-eater in Gloucestershire, England

To: "Tom Tarrant" <>, "birding-aus" <>
Subject: European Bee-eater in Gloucestershire, England
From: "Simon Mustoe" <>
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 08:40:43 +1100
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
 
Telephone 03 9762 2616
International Telephone +61 (0) 3 9762 2616
Mobile 0405 220830
Website www.ecology-solutions.com.au
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • European Bee-eater in Gloucestershire, England, Simon Mustoe <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU