Spreading a little hoopoeness as you go by.

 


Reports of a sighting of an Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) in Swansea came flooding in all over social media this week. The local birdwatching group on Facebook South Wales birders and the WhatsApp Birdwatch group was full of amazing photographs of this magical species of bird.

I have only ever seen a Hoopoe once before and that was at Kenfig near Sker House in September 2021. I was over joyed on that occasion and you can read all about it here.

The only issue with the 2021 sighting was that the bird was quite distant so I was left afterwards wishing I could have got a closer photograph. 

Well after reading the posts on social media the Swansea Hoopoe was very accommodating indeed to being photographed and was showing in a very public area near the Cenotaph on the seafront.

All week I contemplated heading West to Swansea. I am not one for regularly travelling around chasing after twitches and I like the rarities to be in my area of Gwent. So when my day off on Friday arrived I had made the decision to stay local and visit Peterstone Gout instead for a sunrise and a spot of wader roost watching.

Whilst at Peterstone I got talking to a couple of my birding friends. One was surprised that I had not been across to see the Hoopoe, the other was not that keen on being one of the bird paparazzi in Swansea. I talked myself into not going and even proclaimed I was more interested in the waders!.

After spending some time with the waders (and thats going to be another blog post - as that was lots of fun) I decided to head off from the levels and get some lunch. Whilst munching on my  KFC lunch I schemed what I would do over the next couple of hours. The day was still young and there was plenty of time for more birdwatching. It had been suggested to me to visit the Black Tern at Lisvane and Llanhishen reservoir. I had never been there, and it sounded like a good idea and was only twenty minutes away from Newport.

I set the GPS and off I went, joining the M4 and following the travel instructions. Then something began to nag me in my brain. The Black Tern would be good to see but the Hoopoe. Hmm it would be very close and its a pretty cool looking bird.

Then the GPS announced "Please turn around if possible". I had missed my turning. I could not control my desire to see the Hoopoe. It had won out over the Tern and literally I had missed my turn :)

Vroom, off I now went to Swansea - eta T minus 45 minutes if the traffic was good.

I was now hearing voices in my head of "hypocrite - you say one thing and do another". At that point I honestly did not care, the Hoopoe was now my target.

I drove all the way to Swansea with the confounded GPS nagging me about driving the wrong way until I pulled up to pay the car park attendant.

On paying I said to the chap that the car park was busy and he replied that lots of people were turning up with cameras to see a rare bird on the sea front. I told him it was a "Hoopoe" and he looked at me as if I speaking a foreign language - he would not be the last person to give me that look on that day.

Finding the Hoopoe proved not to be very difficult at all. Thanks to the South Wales Birders I had directions to find the bird. After a brief march from the car park to the seafront, I found small group of photographers and members of the public stood, sat and lying around the bird just on the edge of the sand dunes next to the seafronts path.



All present were very respectful to the bird and it was wonderful to hear the average non birder member of the public stopping to see the bird and asking what it was. It was nice to catch up with a few people who's photography work I have been admiring on Facebook.

The Hoopoe was incredibly tame. Rarely did it look flighty and it was more interested in doing its thing - feeding, preening and sand bathing. It would raised it crest when it spotted Jackdaws flying overhead.


It was great to see lots of happy faces on people. For some it was the first time ( a lifer) they had ever seen a Hoopoe and for others it was a privilege to see one so close up.

I took hundreds of photographs and videos to record the occasion. As ever I was already thinking about what to call my blog post.

As I drove home from Swansea I thought about my my visit to see this wonderful bird and I was glad that people shared and spread their knowledge of this bird and enabled so many people like me to see it.

 Then the song "Spread a little happiness as you go by" (Sting) came into my head and I just could not clear my mind of it for the rest of the day. The song inspired this blogs title and in the very spirit of the song I believe the Hoopoe and those that shared their pictures online , location information and the original finder of the bird - all spread a little Hoopiness as they went by.




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