We have a pet Hoopoe!

How would you feel if you saw a Hoopoe on your front lawn just as you were turning into your driveway? You'd be excited and amazed - and that even in summer. Now imagine you saw that Hoopoe in your garden in January, when they are supposed to be overwintering in Africa ........ 😍

Luckily it was spotted again in a neighbouring garden that afternoon so K was able to post a few distant pics of it on facebook, and learned that some Hoopoes do indeed stay around their breeding grounds all year round. I've heard some of them hang around the Med area during winter but we are an hour inland, so it's less likely here. We imagined that first bird was a one off, until last week when I spotted one sitting on our wall beside my herb bed looking somewhat dejected in the drizzle on a miserable day. K got some great shots through the kitchen window, and I got to see it raise its crest when a sparrow landed beside it! Unfortunately, that time K was not there with his camera. (I'm being lazy, as his camera is better than my SX50, and anyway, my camera wasn't to hand at the time).

We were very lucky as a couple of days later it was back again, in the same spot, on a sunny day. This time K got lucky with the camera and captured it raising its crest!

Doesn't its tail look fabulous all splayed out like that - I've not seen that before. Unfortunately when they raise their crests, it's all too brief so of course the only thing you notice is their amazing crest! We haven't seen it again, but even if we don't see one again until the summer, what luck to see one at this time of year, so close by! They aren't exactly common birds - I have only seen about 10 in total, ever. Most of those were in Greece or Spain.

Another exciting bird we saw this winter, funnily enough in almost the same place, was a Sardinian Warbler. Now they do overwinter here, but like the Hoopoe, we aren't seeing them commonly. We didn't get a photo of it as, being a typical Warbler, it was flitting about between the wall and the hedge, and searching around in amongst my parsley. So the photo below is one that K took some years back at a campsite where we were treated to a lovely open view of one, pretty close up.

Aren't they stunning?! The good thing about that red eye is that it is easy to ID them in the field even if they are distant.

In other news, I have received my vaccination! Our doctor seems to have classed me amongst the over 50s with an underlying health condition due to my past cancer. I am not complaining! Unfortunately I got the last dose in the bottle, so K, who was expecting to get his jab as well, will have to wait, although he should get it pretty soon.

PS. Lockdown hair! I did actually cut it twice last summer, with K's help. Then it grew again and I didn't want to go to a hairdresser and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my hair, so I just let it grow. Now I can get it in a pony tail! Still unsure what to do. I'll probably get it all cut off again when Covid is a distant memory.

I have some more posts to come (in the mood now!) but will leave you with this slightly shorter than usual post. 😀