Rare hoopoe birds spotted in North Walsham and Hellesdon

Hoopoes are very distinctive with their pinkish-brown bodies, black and white wings, black downcurved bills and pinkish-brown crests.

A hoopoe in the North Walsham High School car park on Wednesday (Image: Graham Parker) Only 100 migrate through the UK each year and they usually remain on the south coast of England.

They are often solitary birds and are listed as a Schedule 1 species under The Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Maiwand Sultany spotted one in Hellesdon on Thursday (Image: Maiwand Sultany)

On Wednesday afternoon, Graham Parker snapped a photo of one lounging on a patch of grass in the North Walsham High School car park.

Experts at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust verified the sighting to be accurate.

Another sighting in a garden in Mundesley Road, North Walsham (Image: Kim Kippin)

Another sighting came from Hellesdon on Thursday, and on Friday, more photos were taken in North Walsham.

The bird, which is about the size of a mistle thrush, has been spotted at Wells and Beeston Bump in recent years.