Birdwatch: Migrating hoopoes and pale-legged leaf warbler are blown in

Over 100 are seen in Britain each year, the majority along the south coast in spring as they move north from wintering grounds south of the Sahara and others in autumn as they return from breeding sites.

It is the latter birds, from more northerly populations, that tend to be recorded in Yorkshire.

Many will remember one in the village of Collingham near Leeds in October 2020 which proved remarkably confiding for photographers.

Hoopoes are found over much of Europe, Asia and Africa, especially in Spain where there are more in summer than in any other European country, and they breed as far north as the Baltic States but are largely absent from Scandinavia.

They have also bred in this country on several occasions, most recently last year at an undisclosed site in Leicestershire, Other breeding records are in Montgomery, Wales in 1996 and four pairs in southern England in 1977.

The hoopoe is one of the birds tipped to become regularly established here if global warming continues, especially if this results in their favourite insect food, the large mole cricket, becoming more widespread here.

A Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, only the second ever seen in Britain, attracted many hundreds of birders to the Bempton Cliffs reserve. It breeds in Manchuria and normally winters in south east Asia.