Arriving on site, we were greeted to fantastic views of the bird sat on its favoured white post where it usually came back to after short burst of rolling display and feeding. A truly fantastic bird and one I have wanted to see in Britain for ages.
With my trips to Spain, France, Portugal and Italy over the past 10 years, I have seen lots of Roller abroad, but these are usually in late August when they aren't in their most impressive plumage and in the bright sandy conditions of the Med, they don't look as blue as the bird we watched today. It was probably the prettiest bird I have seen in Britain with fantastic sky blue tones and bright purple/navy on the underwing, with black on the primaries and secondaries and a lovely brown mantle. A real treat and a joy to watch!
It proved a very tricky bird to see well, so I am very happy with the photos I got, but the 'Hippo' structure was obvious with the long pointy bill, peaked crown and rather slugish feeding habits in the centre of the Hawthorn bush. Whilst ever it was seen perched, the pale wing panel was really evident which is one of the keen features of ID of this species to separate it from Melodious. In addition to educational views, we were also treated to a couple of bursts of song which were just fantastic!
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