HOOPOE at last
At 1100 hours on Sunday morning, I took a call informing me of a confiding HOOPOE feeding in a horse paddock on private land. At that stage, John (the farm owner) did not want the information widely released, so I arranged a visit to see what viewing arrangements could be made.
The HOOPOE was at Gibbons Farm in Halsey's Green, near Stokenchurch, and spent the entire day feeding on insects and worms it was obtaining from in and around the horse dung piles. It was particularly confiding and seemed fairly unconcerned by admirers (I was joined by several family members on observation).
It was eventually agreed by the propreitor of Gibbons Farm to allow a few local birders in to see the bird, on the pretense that they would donate £5 on arrival. As Warren Claydon lived very closeby, I phoned him up and waited for him to arrive. Jim Rose saw and photographed the bird in the evening.
Although Warren informs me I have almost certainly seen the Aston Rowant bird, as well as a bird I found in 1977 at a locality which is now claimed by Bucks County Council, this was my first county Hoopoe (Lee Evans)