When bee-eaters come to Britain
August 31st, 2011 by lucy
Even in Spain, where it is a common, well-established breeding bird, the gorgeously colourful bee-eater (Merops apiaster) seems to have strayed out of the tropics. So imagine the impact when a pair arrived in County Durham in 2002 and proceeded to nest. Nevertheless, perhaps only in Britain could a couple of bee-eaters draw 15,000 people to see them. Two of the young successfully fledged. There have been other successful nesting attempts: in 1955 3 pairs spent the summer in Plumpton, East Sussex, two of which managed to rear 7 young between them. The most recent attempt to breed was on the coast of Dorset in 2006, but this time without any luck.
Photo from Wikipedia
Richard Holmes notes how this vision would haunt the poet long after. It was
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