Rolling, Rolling, Rolling….Roller! 25th June 2021

When you flick through a field guide to birds or watch a wildlife documentary on the box there are certain birds that catch your eye. Some of those will be the unusual species, the weird and wonderful, the big and small. I was captivated by the Capercaillie at an early age (although I never saw one until I was nearly 40), lots of folk are attracted to Birds of Prey or Penguins, others will be no doubt be drawn to the most striking and colourful birds such as Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and for me, the Roller. I remember drawing a picture of a Roller when I was at school which is a long time ago. And yet I'd never seen one in the wild!

Then on the 22nd a Roller was discovered hunting over a field near Icklingham in Suffolk, a paltry 92 miles from home. My problem was though, that I'm very busy at work so sneaking a day off to see it would be out of the question until the weekend. I watched the bird news almost constantly during Wednesday and Thursday expecting the Roller to disappear at any time but it stayed loyal to a sheep field next to the A1101 just outside of the village. However, despite my fears, the bird remained on site and on Thursday evening I became very twitchy indeed. Weekend twitching has both advantages and its disadvantages. Twitches tend to busier at the weekends so getting the best viewing spots can be harder plus parking close by can be a problem too, if you're able to go during the week then it's obviously going to be quieter. On the other hand, travelling is easier at the weekend than during the week since the freight, maintenance and schools traffic isn't on the roads to the same extent. Could I wait until the weekend though? Mrs Caley and I have missed out on many birds in the past because they've departed on a Friday night. Mind you we've also seen a lot that stayed over and, of course more than a few that have arrived on a weekend. But there is an old adage amongst birders that all of the best birds get found on a Monday and depart by Friday and thus deprive the weekend twitchers.

I'm a big believer in fate and so it was when I arrived at my work site on Friday morning, ready for another day of anxiously watching the bird reports (as well as work of course), only to be told that the job was delayed owing to an issue with supply. Bingo! And go! I called Mrs Caley to get ready and an hour later we were on our way.

Rush hour was over by the time we hit the roads and the drive only took just over 90 minutes. Much had been made of the precarious nature of the viewing area for the Roller and the parking situation around it. The bird was frequenting a field right slap bang on a busy trunk road that runs between Mildenhall and Bury St Edmunds. The road attracts a lot of traffic including some hefty lorries either bound for or coming away from Harwich and Felixstowe docks on the Suffolk coast. Parking close to the site was limited so birders were asked to park at a picnic site about  a mile away and then walk along the busy road to see the Roller. The prospect of placing our lives in peril didn't really appeal to me at all. I had studied the satellite image of the area and could see a lay-by, a small lane and a couple of other possible pulling in spots right next to the field. I would be aiming for one of those even it meant loitering for a while in order to claim one. I also reasoned that, by arriving in the mid-morning, the really eager twitchers would have had their fill and left, and that parking would be less problematic. By the afternoon, being a Friday, and at the weekend it would be much more difficult to park close by and safely. We drove through the village and without warning, owing to a high hedge screening them from view, passed about twenty or so birders lined up on the grass verge. There were more birders lined up at the end of the field by the lane and lay-by another fifty metres further on. I pulled into the lay-by but it was full so continued on. As I rejoined the road, I noticed a car pull out of the small pull-in right opposite the field so did a quick turnaround and slotted my car into the vacated spot. We then had the arduous task of walking across the road to stand alongside the other twitchers! I love it when a plan falls into place.

Attracting envious looks from some of those assembled who had seen us park and merely have to cross the road, we socially distanced and set our scope up. The Roller was clearly on view since everybody else was staring in one direction so this time I played it cool and searched for it myself. The bird wasn't anywhere on the overhead wires, there were only Wood Pigeons adorning those, but I remembered seeing photos of it perched on fence posts so scanned the field edge and sure enough found the bird on one of the posts. I've twitched six new "life" birds this year, dipped on one (a Franklin's Gull), but have connected with the other five (Mockingbird, White-throated Sparrow, Whiskered Tern, River Warbler and now Roller) almost immediately on pitching up. Long may that continue. Keep those life birds rolling!

Roller

The first word out of mouth on setting my eyes on the Roller was simply, "Wow!". What a bird! I'd seen pictures of a Roller, and recalled my puny effort of drawing one all those years ago, and I have a couple of badges of it too but no artistic interpretation can offer a true representation of the myriad of blues that the Roller had to offer. The Roller was perched facing us and although it was over a hundred metres away, the scope allowed us to see the aquamarine and deeper blues of its front on plumage. When it shifted slightly to preen, the orange-brown back and cobalt blues of the leading edges to the wings and rump could be seen. The Roller looked as if it had been dipped into an artists palette and it literally shimmered every time it moved.

The Roller had been perched on the posts for nearly half an hour before it finally lurched into action by flying low along the fence and dropping to the ground. The distant flight views allowed us to see the vivid blues of the wing feathers even more clearly. For the next ten minutes or so the Roller made many sorties to the ground from the fenceposts before it decided to fly even further away across the field and perched upon in a tree instead. Its habit of pouncing on its prey on the ground was akin to a Shrike species which I guess it superficially resembles although structurally it was more like a Jackdaw. Eventually the Roller obliged by flying up onto the overhead electric wires which brought it slightly closer to us. From there it continued making feeding forays but always in a direction away from where we stood. On one of its missions the Roller carried back an impressively long earthworm which it readily dispatched.

But the bird was too far away, in record shot territory and I naturally wanted better and closer views so I left Mrs Caley minding the scope and walked carefully along the road, jumping into the verge whenever necessary to avoid the traffic, and looked for a nearer viewpoint. The Roller was still sat on the wires and I found a gap in the hedge and by scrambling through some twigs and nettles managed to get up to the fence. Now I was half the distance away. Just as I aimed the camera at the bird it flew up and away to the fence line again where we'd originally seen it. I debated walking further up the road to the field end but fortunately stayed put long enough so that when the Roller took to flight once more and headed back to the wires above the field, I was in the right place when it landed directly opposite me. Now I could take some proper photos that would far surpass the record shots that I had. Photos that would actually show what the bird really looked like. I've seen nearly four hundred species of bird in the UK and this has to go down as one of the best.

Next, to further my total amazement in such an extraordinary bird, the Roller dropped off the wires and landed on the ground right in front of me. I was being granted a private and personal show that the others further along the road were still only witnessing from three times as far away. The Roller had ambushed an insect, probably a Beetle, and devoured it while barely obscured by the short grass. Then it seemed to stare straight at me as if to say, "Come on then, get your close-ups!". I needed no second invitation.

When the Roller took flight and headed back to the wires it initially flew straight towards me. I remembered to use the back button focussing method and took a whole series of shots. Some didn't come out but others had me purring as I looked at the back of the camera. The grassy field blurred out behind the bird, and I mused that, taking a big slice of imagination maybe, the Roller and I could have been somewhere on the Serengeti and not in a sheep field in Suffolk.

The Roller was very active now and frequently left the wires to pursue flying insects. I took streams of photos but after a while just watched and marvelled at the bird as it flew sortie after sortie. The dazzling colours of the Roller certainly wouldn't be forgotten in a hurry. This was a bird and an experience that I would always remember.

The Roller was off once more and this time flew to my right and towards where I'd left Mrs Caley! A few seconds later I received a text announcing, "It's right in front of me!". I was already on my way and rejoined my wife a few seconds later. The Roller was now perched on the wires almost at the closest point that it could be. As I took it in the Roller dropped to the ground again but I wasn't ready! A prolonged stay on the wires did allow me to take some much more satisfying photos of the perched bird and also the most amazing and intricate views through the scope.

Just after midday the Roller hurtled after yet another flying bug and disappeared off to the far edge of the field again. We'd seen enough, if it was possible to be satisfied with such a bird, so called it a day  as a whole mob of birders arrived, who had been watching from the other end of the field, just too late to enjoy the corking views that we'd had. We found a superb cafe at "La Hogue" nearby where we indulged in the most delicious cheesecakes that we'd had anywhere (other than the famed but sadly missed Potting Shed in the Cairngorms). A perfect end to a most thrilling twitch. I look forward to seeing another Roller someday.

Rolling, rolling, rolling….keep those life birds rolling….Roller!