This Roller (pronounced like polar) has been present in east Yorkshire for about a week now and shows no signs of moving on. It is feeding well, clearing the fields of leather-jackets and putting on a good show for the assembled masses.
A Jackdaw sized, heavily-built bird, with electric blue plumage and a brown back, quite unmistakeable. A bird that breeds in continental Europe, from Iberia to Turkey, with some populations in coastal north-west Africa. Another sub-species breeds from Iraq, Kazakhstan to Pakistan and western China. They winter in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 1664 there have been around 300 records in Great Britain, but they remain a fairly rare bird with a few turning up annually, another `tick` in my book.
A couple of videos are below, just showing the bird flying and feeding. The site is next to a main road, so there is a bit of traffic noise, I hope this doesn`t detract from the bird.
Below are some attempts at flight shots! The bird was just `asking` to be photographed in this way, but, whereas the boys with the 20 grand lenses just rattled off shots 10 to the dozen, all pin sharp, my humble efforts leave a lot to be desired! The camera I use for digiscoping just can`t seem to cope with moving wings, I can`t seem to get the shutter speed fast enough!
Hopefully, although the wings are nice and blurred, they give you an idea of the wing pattern.
