The Hoopoe in Swansea

 I`ve never been one for rushing to see a rare bird, often descended upon a large groups of twitchers, (not me), which often leads to some kind of general melee. So I decided not to go to see the Hoopoe that had arrived along the Swansea Bay, but at the same time feeling it was a chance to see a bird i`d never seen before - let alone photographed. So I left it a number of days.

Yesterday I took the plunge and decided to go have a look as it was still around, and hoping any crowds would have thinned out. The forecast wasn`t good to start with, but it broke into a lovely day, and it didn`t take long for us to locate where the Hoopoe was.

What a fantastic bird! It was literally a few metres from us, at times too close to focus. Very confiding, and it was a "lifer" as they call it - when you`ve seen one for the very first time.

We had a good couple of hours with it before it eventually flew off over the beach, and around to the Gardens somewhere. By this time i`d taken hundreds of photos, so now begins the long process of wading through them. Should keep me quiet well into the autumn! 

I won`t be joining any realms of twitchers, but the handful of us that were there first thing were respectful and quiet. The Hoopoe was back and forth really very close, so all in all a great experience.