Hoopoe with Bufflehead on the side

What a day. Was looking around Little Woodcote for migrants (a fall of Robins, 3 Swallow and a single Whitethroat) with Sid when news came in of a female Bufflehead on the Beddington North Lake. Kojak had found it while doing the WeBS. We presumed it was the escaped silver ringed female that has been doing the rounds- actually been following me round all my main patches- Otmoor, Staines and now Beddington. The gang confirmed it had a silver ring on the right leg. So Sid and I went to twitch the Bufflehead and while watching that I noticed a couple of crows mobbing something over the mound- a Hoopoe! Eventually the bird settled on the main island and a local twitch followed. 

This is the 4th official Hoopoe for the farmlands following singles on August 24th 1956, May 11th to 13th 1959 and April 21st 1968. There is also an unconfirmed report in 1972. Therefore this is the first record since 1968 - the first in 50 years!! A major local blocker. 

As it was a planned nature day with the boys today we spent the rest of the day processing the moth trap, listening to last night's nocturnal sounds and then went for a walk along the Wandle, where we met one of the local fisherman with a beautiful 4lb Brown Trout. 

A few goodies in the moth trap too. 

 Hoopoe in flight 

 Hoopoe on the deck 

 Hoopoe erect 

 First found being mobbed by crows 

 Female Bufflehead- a first for the farmlands (presumably Cat E) totally eclipsed by the Hoopoe 

Female Bufflehead- presumably the escaped female doing the rounds across the South of England. Silver ring on the right leg. 

 Early Thorn 

 Common Plume 

 Pale Mottled Willow

 Twin-spot Quaker 

 Agonopterix arenella (a local scarcity) 

 The Beddington boys

 Me and the boys in the lab 

 Sid's siblings in on the migrant hunt this morning 

Brown Trout on the Wandle

INSIDE CROYDON ARTICLE ON THE HOOPOE HERE