The European bee-eater is undoubtedly one of the most colourful and spectacular birds in Europe. A summer migrant, the bee-eater returns each spring to breed in colonies dug out of sandy and muddy banks across southern Europe, feeding on bees, butterflies, dragonflies and other flying insects. Widespread in the Mediterranean, the bee-eater has also bred in recent years in Britain and Sweden, and is a regular "overshoot migrant" to northern Europe, causing much excitement in the birdwatching community.


Photographers Grzegorz Lesniewski, Dietmar Nill and Markus Varesvuo captured these striking images in Hungary, Bulgaria and the Crimea region of Ukraine for Wild Wonders.

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