The Hoopoe. Photo by Jack Cartmel
By Rebecca Cain
TWEETERS were rushing to a farm in Horsley's Green after a bird which has not been seen in Bucks since 2007 was spotted.
The Hoopoe, which is more commonly seen in the continent, spent last Sunday in a garden from 7.30am to 6.30pm and spent the day feasting on bugs.
The bird was spotted by John and Susan McKelvey on their land in Gibbons Farm as they were out walking their dogs.
The couple had been to Africa a few years previously to celebrate their wedding anniversary and remembered seeing it there.
Once they had looked it up they realised it was a very rare sighting and called the Bucks Bird Club who sent a number of tweeters to verify it.
Son-in-law Rob Cartmel, 44, who lives next door said: “I am not a bird watcher and even I thought that is like no bird I have seen before.
“The bird watching club were very excited about it.”
A number of birdwatchers arrived late in the evening and the next day and it was discovered the sighting is very rare in the UK.
The last Hoopoe sighting in Bucks, according to the Bucks Bird Club website, was in April 2007 in Flackwell Heath.
Rob said his two children, Jack, 12 and Demi, seven, enjoyed the “rare spectacle in their back garden”.
