I checked up on the Bee-eaters a couple of days ago. According to the website the watchers noticed a change in behaviour a couple of weeks ago, with adults no longer taking food into the nests. A couple of days later they gathered together and flew off, never to return.
It’s a shame, both for the birds and for the volunteers who put so much work in.
Who knows what might happen – at one time Magpies and Buzzards were unknown around in the eastern counties and Red Kites were virtually extinct in the UK. Now they are all common, or commonish, sights around the area. yet be able to tell my grand-children about how they are lucky to have Bee-eaters and Hoopoes in the garden.
Then again, if the sea levels do rise as predicted, it might be exotic ducks we are watching.
Bee-eaters at East Leake