• European Bee-Eaters (Merops apiaster) once very rare in Germany are now breeding regularly across the country.
Changes and losses in habitats • The Rosy-Breasted Trumpeter Finch (Rhodopechys githaginea) is one of many birds once normally confined to arid North Africa and the Middle East now found in increasingly large numbers in southern Spain.
• The arrival of hundreds of Bewick Swans (Cygnus columbianus) flying in distinctive “V” formations used to herald the arrival of the British winter. Warmer weather on the continent and the absence of the NE winds which aid their migration are the likely reasons for the swans’ non-appearance in their traditional British wintering sites. 66