Hoopoedrops in for a surprise visit

IT’S always a pleasure when an unusual bird turns up in your garden.

But I was very envious of a Kinsale reader who emailed me the other day. She had just spent five minutes watching a hoopoe picking at the food that she puts out for the other garden birds.

Hoopoes are rare and exotic birds, at least in this country, with their barred pink plumage, long bill and extraordinary crest. They also have a weird way of flying, more like a huge and ungainly butterfly than a bird.