THE TRIMINGHAM BEE EATERS - REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL?

Picture the scene; it’s the 20th of July. It’s a day after the UK has sweltered under near 40°c heat. Every blade of grass in sight is tinged in parched brown whilst thunderstorms roll across the distant horizon. You recall, you get the picture. This was the day I begged to be driven from South to North Norfolk in the hope of ticking off a lifer. An hour and a half later, arriving at what was essentially a dusty field, doubt crept into my mind. What if the conditions aren’t right? What if they’re too far away? What if they’ve already left? Do I have enough battery in my camera? (I didn’t.) As we trekked under the imposing sun along a dirt path, the sweat beads that dripped were not solely reserved for the conditions. We greeted a studious volunteer with the traditional blue of the RSPB and asked the hallowed question: Where can we see the bee eaters?

‘Oh, they’re just over there’, he said.

He wasn’t wrong. Over there they were.

One sat on a telegraph wire alongside a flock of goldfinches, as if it were part of the furniture. Another flitted from beyond the hedgerow to their quarry-cavity cubbyhole. The weather that day not far off the Mediterranean, fitting really. These birds had become minor celebrities and unlike most rarities, they were obliging. Dancing against the azure skies in pursuit of their buzzing prey, chirruping away to one another as if this was a perfectly normal spot to call home. It wasn’t a tropical riverbank, it was a sandy cliff surrounded by brambles and machinery. The relative mundane East Anglian backdrop perfectly contrasting with these gloriously bold birds. (I’m allowed to say this, I’m Norfolk born and bred.) The golden question really is, can we enjoy it?

The obvious answer on paper is yes, duh. An incredibly rare bird nesting successfully in the UK? It’s the stuff of dreams for conservationists, surely? However, if we want to throw reality in the mix, it is an indicator of what future summers will look like. As our climate becomes more akin to the south of Spain, Mediterranean species will follow. It’s one thing for more sightings to be noted but for bee eaters to feel so at home that they actually decide to stay, that does create question marks. If it was a one off, we could perhaps treat it as a unique anomaly, but with recording breeding attempts in 2014, 2015, 2017 and now 2022, that’s what we can safely call a trend. There had only been four records in the 50 years prior to this. Getting warm much?

The fact is that continental shifts are happening not just in UK bird species but in flora and fauna across the globe. Bee eaters just so happen to be poster boys for this, given their flamboyant style. Earlier flowering trees are triggering insects to emerge sooner, meaning food webs are becoming out of sync for their predators. This is just one of many ecological catastrophes on our doorstep, alongside our favourite wasp assassins. Not to undermine the situation, but branding bee eaters as the harbingers of global warming feels a bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. It is a genuine worry that shouldn’t be swept under the carpet, but what can we do about it?

To play devils advocate for the devils advocate, and go right back to where I started, but bee eaters are just awesome. There was not one birder that visited Trimingham that was underwhelmed upon laying eyes on these glorious migrants. As a collaborative event that drew nature lovers from all corners of the nation, it was quite the summer. For the critics of promoting a bird that symbolises a slowly boiling planet, one could argue the heightened media attention was a valuable PR exercise. As much as it was glorifying a rare species, there’s much to be said about the conversation it spawned regarding climate change. There’s a reason why this blog is being written in the first place. I always say the most powerful weapon in modern conservation is education, so there’s no harm is spreading the word.

At the most simple level, it was an amazing afternoon for me. A truly memorable sighting in my home county, it couldn’t have been much better. Following so many holidays to Spain, it was the Costa Del Cromer that provided the setting for my maiden bee eater sighting. For a moment, I considered it to be a once in a life time experience, but as we all know, it likely won’t be long until they’re perched on my bird bath. Their presence is undeniably unnerving but their arrival brought birders together and generally made everyone who saw them smile. The bee eater hype was real and they joy they brought is impossible to ignore.