Oop oop, Oop oop, Oop oop

It’s a noise like no other. I know it isn’t a pigeon or a dove. It’s a loud insistent “Oop oop.”

I wander out into the garden in Italy and see it: a Hoopoe is in the tree. It’s an exotic bird to me; I always think of them as an African species. The Puffin Whisperer calls them Upupa, which I can’t help but find hilarious. Upupa epops is the scientific name.

Upupa indeed.

Back in Devon I’m exploring Dunster Castle in Somerset and admiring the decoration when I spot a familiar-looking bird on the 19th century wallpaper in the Library :

It’s simulated blue embossed leather, made by Cordelova of Edinburgh.

Oop oop.