Birdwatchers flock to see East Coast visitor

Twitchers have been flocking to the East Coast to get a sighting of an unusual visitor.

Dozens of birdwatchers have travelled to the outskirts of Aldbrough, in Holderness, to see the European roller, coracias garrulus, a striking blue bird, the size of a jackdaw, which had earlier been spotted at Spurn Point.

One resident said: “They’ve been parked on a bend just outside the village on both sides of the road for days causing traffic chaos.

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“Today there’s been at least two dozen with their cameras trained on a hedgerow a few hundred yards from the road. Apparently the European roller is a stranger to these parts and some have come from many miles to see it.”

The European roller is the only member of the roller family of birds to breed in Europe and has a range extending into the Middle East and Central Asia and Morocco. It winters primarily in dry wooded savanna and bushy plains, where it typically nests in tree holes.

A stocky bird, it has a 52 to 58 cm wingspan.