On 16th June 2022, the RSPB confirmed that 7 European Bee-eaters were present in a quarry at Trimingham in north east Norfolk.
BirdGuides - Bee-eaters nest in Norfolk for first time
📣 🌈Special announcement 📣🌈
— RSPB Birders (@RSPBbirders) June 16, 2022
Prrp! Prrp! Bee-eaters are nesting in Norfolk! There are seven birds currently at a quarry in Trimingham. Great views from the viewing site! Car parking is £5. See you there!
📹 (Footage by Mike Edgecombe)@BBCSpringwatch pic.twitter.com/B6NXKoi1eA
I visited the location on 28th June 2022 .... see here.
On 21st July 2022, the RSPB confirmed that European Bee-eater chicks have hatched!
BirdGuides - Bee-eater chicks hatch in Norfolk
Close monitoring by the RSPB wardening team on
site has shown a noticeable step-up in feeding activity by the adult birds with
insect prey being delivered to at least one of the nests with greater
regularity than before.
European Bee-eaters last nested
in the UK in 2017 in Nottinghamshire although the last successful fledging was
on the Isle of Wight in 2014. The notable increase in nesting attempts in the
past 20 years by a species typically found further south in Europe is yet
another sign of increasing temperatures and climate change.
The RSPB’s Director of Conservation, Katie-jo Luxton, said: “While it’s good news that that these chicks have hatched, this remains a very vivid reminder of the changes being wrought by our overheating planet. Bee-eaters are a species found commonly in the southern Mediterranean and northern Africa, and as our planet warms they – along with other species – are being pushed further north. The climate and nature crisis is well and truly upon us.
Like canaries down a coal mine, Bee-eaters nesting in the UK are an early warning of what climate change has in store for us all. Hotter, drier summers and searing temperatures – as experienced in the UK this week – will become the norm if urgent action isn’t taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions. We urge the next Prime Minister to honour the commitment to reach net zero by 2050 and put nature’s recovery at the fore by making this a decade of action for climate and nature.”
I have seen European Bee-eaters on numerous occasions in several European countries, sometimes in quite large numbers at their breeding colonies, but I have only seen this species on a single occasion in the UK, a breeding pair at Bishop Middleham Quarry in County Durham in August 2002.
The European Bee-eater breeds in southern and central Europe, northern and southern Africa and western Asia. Except for the resident southern African population, the species is strongly migratory and winters in tropical Africa. It occurs as a spring overshoot north of its usual range with occasional breeding in northern Europe including the UK.
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
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