You can’t get much more exotic than Hoopoe. I saw my first in Windsor Great Park in the early sixties, calling within earshot of where the Duke was playing polo. I thought about informing his equerry but chickened out!

In Pakistan, my large lawn hosted no less than thirteen on one occasion. They also visit my lawn in the Algarve, where some stay throughout the year. Both these photos were taken in the garden.

Transparencies of colourful birds seem to suffer worst of all and none of my photos of African and Indian roller and bee-eater spp. have survived. I’ve seen a couple of Blue-cheeked in the Algarve but otherwise European is the only species now on the menu.

Golden Oriole is a common breeder in east Algarve but is mainly a migrant in the far west, where the Atlantic influence ensures summer temperatures are significantly lower. I have suspected breeding in or near my valley in only two of eight years. They normally keep well hidden, high in the eucalypts, but this female came repeatedly to a flowering tree in my garden in June 2025.