Hoopoe, New Brighton 8th September 2015

Photo courtesy Joe Bellis

News broke just before 4pm of a Hoopoe at New Brighton. Only a few minutes away by car, I was the first birder on site following the news, hence the lack of cars, birders, tripods, etc. I had a wander along where I thought the instructions meant, "near gorse slope" which to me seemed to be west of Yellow Noses south of Coastal Drive, before spotting another birder. Upon meeting it turns out this was the finder, local birder Joe Bellis. Joe had seen the bird fly east towards Portland Court, so he went back up the bank & I sauntered along to the west as far as Sea Road, where Joe had originally seen it.

At Sea Road I bumped into John Jones & we both headed back east. A few paces later & the Hoopoe flew west past us along the ridge & alighted on the corner of Sea Road. We then had close views of the bird poking around sandy areas in the path coming down from the ridge. After about 15mins it flew off to the east. The bird returned about half an hour later giving brief views on one of the paths leading down from the ridge before again taking flight.

Speaking to the few birders who had now arrived, it turns out the Hoopoe had been seen a few hours previously by visiting birder John Evered, but he was unable to put the news out.

The second time I've seen a Hoopoe on the Wirral, the previous one being in Wallasey market gardens late October 1997.

Photo courtesy Joe Bellis