WHAT is believed to be the first ever sighting on Exmoor of a hoopoe has been recorded this week by a couple in Wootton Courtenay.

Jackie and James Macbeth, who are both keen birdwatchers, described it as ‘a once in a lifetime’ experience.

Mr Macbeth said: “We were out doing a walk and this bird flew over quite low, very much like a woodpecker.

“It did not make a sound and it flew into a tree.

“We had just seen a green woodpecker so we thought that was it, and then we saw the brown markings and knew it was not.

“Everything came together, we happened to see it, we saw where it landed, the sun was shining on it, and I had my camera with us, so many things came together.

“We would call it a very lucky sighting.”

Since 1950, only 35 sightings of hoopoes have been recorded near the Somerset coast and none on Exmoor.

Only about 100 of the exotic looking birds are seen in the UK each year as they migrate between European breeding sites and their winter home in Africa.

Mrs Macbeth carries out a daily bird count for the British Trust for Ornithology and keeps detailed records of sightings, with the pinkish-brown hoopoe and its black and white wings, black downcurved bill, and pinkish-brown crest, being the most exciting to date.

Mr Macbeth said: “It is a rare migrant bird, on its way from breeding in the Baltics to overwintering in Africa, so a little off course.

“A lady who lives close by thinks she has recently heard a hoopoe in the woods behind us but never seen it, so it may still be in the area.”

Mr Macbeth said the only other exotic species the couple had seen were white tailed eagles which have been visiting Exmoor.