Birdwatchers should keep their eyes peeled for the pink hoopoe – a bird with pink plumage, chequerboard wings and a fancy crest that can be spotted in the UK as the mercury rises
The extraordinary-looking hoopoe was the key behind the motive in a much-loved murder mystery programme(Image: Getty Images/500px Prime)
Nature lovers have every right to feel tickled pink this spring. Candyfloss sunsets and dazzling cherry blossom extravaganzas have left the countryside glowing as if viewed through rose-tinted binoculars. Yet if anything is going to leave birdwatchers blushing with pride, it will be discovering a scarce visitor that outshines Barbie when looking pretty in pink.
The hoopoe is one of the most recognisable birds on the planet with its outlandish raspberry yoghurt plumage accentuated by chequerboard wings and fancy crest. Such is its illustriousness, the hoopoe has appeared on more postage stamps than any other bird and the ancient Egyptians used its distinctive profile as a hieroglyph.
Many a holidaymaker to the Mediterranean has been mesmerised by sight of a hoopoe strutting around hotel gardens or flapping across an olive grove on butterfly-like wings.
Each year, a few score overshoot Iberian nesting grounds and arrive in the UK, often turning up in picture postcard villages to the delight of birders and non-birdwatchers, alike.
A myth that has developed over the years is that the best places to find hoopoes are vicarage lawns, the manicured swards perfect to probe for grubs with their long, decurved bills. Midsomer Murder script writers homed in on such bucolic scenes with the Case of the Blue-crested Hoopoe that sparked deadly rivalries among members the Midsomer-in-the-Marsh Ornithological Society.
READ MORE: Gardeners urged to do one vital thing if blackbirds come into their garden
The hoopoe is one of the most recognisable birds on the planet with its outlandish raspberry yoghurt plumage accentuated by chequerboard wings and fancy crest(Image: Getty Images/500px)
No such need for murder “most fowl” this spring with its deluge of hoopoe sightings the length and breadth of the British Isles.
High pressure and southerly winds over the Bay Biscay in late March fanned a mass arrival likely to number more than 200 birds, including counts of at least nine individuals on the Isles of Scilly.
Such an influx has heightened hopes that hoopoes will repeat their 2023 breeding success when three young were raised at a secret location in Leicestershire. With only 30 reported instances of nesting since the 1830s, the sight of more hoopoe fledglings will leave us all feeling in the pink …
Listen out to songbirds in your garden such as the thrush(Image: Getty Images)
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