Hoopoe in Nottingham???

[johazel]

Until last year I had never heard of this bird, however my mother has moved to France and out there the first person to hear the Hoopoe is like us hearing the first cuckoo. So last March I was sitting in a converted French barn in a very rural part of france having my mum excitedly explain about the Hoopoe and how they were the first ones to hear it in the district and they didn't even know what is was (much to the annoyance of more veteran English families living in that French region who had been listening our for it in earnest for many weeks and to no avail.)
So this afternoon (25th March 2010) I am sitting in my garden aware of this annoying repetative bird noise and my brain is saying that I never heard such a noise from a bird in the UK before and yet it was so familiar. I ended up ringing my mum in France so she could hear it too when the penny dropped as to what I thought it was (. . . in her part of France they have not had the first Hoopoe yet!) Unfortunately I did not see it but it made its very distinctive noice for most of the afternoon and my fiance swears there were two of them!
Any other UK sightings (or hearings)???

[John]

It is possible but unlikely. There is a few in the country at the moment, nearly all on the South Coast (one has been seen in Pembrokeshire and also one in Somerset, all are coastal or not far from the coast.

I have yet to hear a Hoopoe call in the UK, and I don't know anyone else that has.

BTW a warm welcome to WAB.

John

[thebeard]

there have been hoopoes sighted in nottingham before (last i know of was at ratcliffe-on-soar power station in 2006). however, it'd be very surprising that two would be heard, especially at this time of year.

the only similar bird call i can think of in the UK is the short eared owl, although its not that similar really...

where in nottingham do you live? short eared owls are present around the trent to the west of nottingham, (Clifton, attenborough, etc)?

[johazel]

Sherwood - so no where near Clifton.
We only moved here in Dec and in Forest Fields where I was before (just a mile down the road) I only ever saw pigeons and we had no garden or trees as such.
Part of me can't believe it could be a Hoopoe because of how far north we are from its usual european habbitat, and the other half of me says, I know what I heard and it was the squeeky rusty saw noise from france last year . . . took ages for my brain to click . . . will keep ears and eyes open.
My fiance thought he heard a second - I'm not sure, was too busy holding the phone up to the sky so my mum in France could hear!

[John]

You can't go by the Southern bias as they can be seen anywhere.

Last year there were birds on the Isle of Skye, The Shetlands and the Orkneys as well as other areas in Scotland and Cumbria etc.

John

[Picidae]

The mating call of Wood Pigeons and even Collared Dove can sound very Hoopoe like!

Btw Hoopoe is onomatopoeiac - I wouldn't describe the call as a 'rusty' 'squeak' or 'saw', it really is a 'hooo poooe'!

[Adam Cheeseman]

I'd say more like a deep Hoo-poo-poo.
I reckon you heard a dove/pigeon calling too.

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by Picidae

........Btw Hoopoe is onomatopoeiac - I wouldn't describe the call as a 'rusty' 'squeak' or 'saw', it really is a 'hooo poooe'!

You've got to allow for the French accent

Most winters one or two are sighted in Yorkshire so some of them must pass through Notts?

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

You've got to allow for the French accent

Most winters one or two are sighted in Yorkshire so some of them must pass through Notts?

French Hoopoes don't call, they just shrug their shoulders.

[Jim Ford]

Quite often I've heard Collard Doves make a sinister sort of low nasal braying when calling in flight!

Jim