Nightingales in November (13 page)

Still finishing their moult as they begin their epic migration, the Swallows will now be streaming out of South Africa on a broad front, hoping that if all goes according to plan, the south coast of England should loom into view in around five or six weeks' time. Swallows tend to migrate in fairly small loose flocks, meaning that individual birds are able to hawk for insects en route. Feeding on the way means that, unlike many other migrating birds, they do not need to build up large fat reserves beforehand. However, they will not be flying with the fuel tank needle hovering just above empty, as deposits may well be needed for insurance should they hit any adverse weather conditions along the way. Also, reserves will be essential when crossing inhospitable areas, such as the Sahara Desert or Mediterranean Sea. Catching insect prey as they go means that the Swallows will need to travel mainly during the day, rather than at night, with migrating birds mostly seen anywhere up to 18 metres above the ground. While on the move, they seem to prefer flying into a headwind or crosswind, which makes it easier for the birds to hunt low down without fear of stalling in mid-air.

On a good day they are believed to cover anywhere between 200 and 300km, and will try to find good roosting
sites like reedbeds or dense grasslands each evening to lay up before starting out again early the following morning. Thought to travel in a north- to north-westerly direction as they leave South African airspace, late February should see our British Swallows moving through Namibia and Botswana and over the peculiar panhandle of the Namibian Caprivi Strip as they press on into Angola and Western Zambia.

With the Congo Basin still ahead of our Swallows, most British Cuckoos will still be in the Congo towards the end of February, with the majority of satellite transmitter readings centred around the mighty Congo River. The time at which they too decide to leave their wintering grounds will be quickly approaching, but unlike the ‘feed on the wing' technique of the Swallows, the Cuckoos will carry out their spring migration back to Britain in a series of long-distance hops, with clear breaks to rest and feed up in between. With their departure imminent, the Cuckoos will almost certainly be trying to eat well and rest as much as possible before their first leg, which will see them travel anywhere from 500km to 2,000km in a northwesterly direction away from the Congolian swamp forests.

With the Cuckoos on the verge of leaving, most adult Puffins will be steadily working their way back to their natal colonies by late February. When airborne, the Puffin is thought to be able to cruise at around 58km per hour, and so could theoretically travel long distances quite rapidly. But with their short wings needing to beat at a frankly astonishing 400 beats a minute to keep the bird airborne, the energy demands this places upon them would require them having
to regularly pitch down on the sea to replenish their reserves before carrying on. As the waters around most British puffinries won't see Puffins in any large numbers before at least the middle of March, this would suggest that arriving at their breeding grounds in good condition is distinctly more important than arriving back early.

Returning too early to their north Russian breeding grounds would simply mean that the Bewick's Swans would be unable to eat, because their breeding grounds on the maritime tundra would still be covered with snow, as well as the adjacent coastal waters probably still being frozen. Nevertheless, with the swans needing to make at least a couple of substantial refuelling stopovers before reaching the tundra, late February will see the majority of birds leave sites such as WWT Slimbridge as they conduct the first leg of their journey to the continent. The birds don't all tend to leave in one flock, but numbers will fall away as the month progresses, with a few key nights seeing large numbers leave together.

James Lees, one of the WWT wardens at Slimbridge, has been lucky enough to see a few large departures over the years, and says that a few days before the swans depart they become decidedly nervous at feeding time. They will also spend substantial parts of the day sleeping, no doubt to conserve energy for the flight to come. The majority of the swans will only leave when the conditions are right - favouring dark, clear nights with plenty of stars to aid in navigation and a westerly wind to help push them in the right direction. When the precise moment for departure comes, it is usually preceded by the birds becoming incredibly vocal, with a huge amount of head bobbing. Only when the noise level and degree of synchronised head bobbing reaches fever pitch will the flock rise from the roost, before spiralling
into the air to quite a height, in order to gain their bearings, as they head off for the continent.

In a good Waxwing year, the number of birds in Britain by now may well have declined from the peak seen at the turn of the year. However, late February may well still see these gentle marauders dispersed far and wide as they track down the few remaining supplies not already mopped up by the resident Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Mistle Thrushes or the combined total of around 1.5 million Redwings and Fieldfares also visiting Britain for the winter. Even in a year when relatively few Waxwings cross the North Sea, the east coast at this time will almost certainly see a smattering of flocks visiting any garden with berries going to spare. Always approachable, probably due to the lack of human interference on their breeding grounds, the Waxwings will still be in no hurry to leave.

Out of our four summer visitors, the only species that has seemingly not even entertained thoughts of leaving come the end of this month is the Nightingale. Recent data collected from the BTO's research work suggests that the birds will not leave until mid-March. But by feeding well in West Africa, once the Nightingales finally do decide to leave, the first leg will see them power to southern Europe with all possible haste.

March

Even if the weather conditions seem to say otherwise, higher daily temperatures and a few precious minutes of daylight clawed back with each passing day can only mean spring has most definitely sprung by March. As a yellow army of Daffodils, Primroses and Lesser Celandines begin to appear and overwintering butterflies and queen bumblebees tentatively emerge, many of our winter visitors will take the improving conditions here as their cue to desert our shores for long, arduous journeys to far-flung locations. The noisy and extensive dawn chorus here in March, however, is ample demonstration that this month has already become a hectic time for our resident British birds. For any individuals that successfully negotiated the winter, their reward will have already come as they find themselves either on or close to their breeding grounds, putting them in pole position to race ahead in the mating game. However with most summer
migrants well on their way, the resident birds will be only too aware that they won't have our gardens, woodlands, farmland, scrub and wetlands all to themselves for long! Despite many of our summer visitors still being thousands of kilometres from Britain, the traditional advance party of Wheatears, Sand Martins and Chiffchaffs will have already begun to arrive at many southern migration watchpoints during this month. In fact, this initial trickle will soon turn into a ranging torrent as millions of birds head towards Britain to take advantage of our green and pleasant lands.

Early March