Nightingales in November (26 page)

On arrival back at their traditional site the females will immediately attempt to take over a distinct breeding range of around 30 hectares, which will commonly hold a healthy population of her host species, and into which she will plan to lay all her eggs. Often this appears to be an exclusive territory, but at some locations it can contain a number of females with overlapping breeding ranges. When there is some overlap, often just one female will dominate proceedings and lay far more eggs than the other subordinate birds. Early in the season any newly arrived females will often be harried by amorous males, and so they will prefer to a low profile until they're ready to mate.

Early May should also see the arrival of the first Waxwings back at their breeding sites in the higher latitudes of northern Europe. Called ‘boreal' in Canada, or ‘taiga' in Russia, the huge tract of forest that covers large parts of Canada and Alaska, most of Sweden, Finland and Norway, and much of the northern Russian Federation east to Japan is considered the world's largest land-based biome. Representing an astonishing 29% of the world's forest cover, taiga is relatively low on biodiversity, when compared to, for example, the tropical forests, primarily due to the astonishingly low winter temperatures. With a record low of –53°C in the Russian taiga, many mammals will hibernate to avoid the worst excesses of the winter, while most birds will simply migrate to warmer and lower latitudes. But by July, the temperatures will often rise well above 10°C, and when this is combined with the long hours of daylight and scarce competition for the food available, the habitat should give hardy birds like
Waxwings more than enough time to rear their broods before autumn brings the short breeding season rapidly to a close.

It's generally assumed that most Waxwings overwintering in Britain will be birds from the taiga forests of northern Norway, Finland, Sweden and the north-western parts of the Russian Federation, which made one particular ringing recovery all the more astonishing. One Waxwing ringed as an adult male in Aberdeen on 31 March 2005 (during the large invasion of the winter of 2004/05), was subsequently reported to have been killed by a cat the following February in a village located in the Khanty-Mansi region of the Russian Federation, east of the Urals and north of Kazakhstan – or 3,714km from its British ringing location! This spectacular long-distance movement aside, of the 35 Waxwings ringed in Britain and reported elsewhere, 21 have been recovered from Norway, Sweden and Finland, with a further 12 thought to be actively migrating birds recorded from the near continent. Irrespective of the line of longitude to which the Waxwings return, they will always nest south of the latitudinal line where the trees finally give way to Arctic tundra. The taiga forest itself consists primarily of huge stands of Spruce and Pine, mixed in with Birch and plenty of fruit-bearing plants such as Bilberry, Cloudberry and Cowberry. Lichens are also abundant in these forests, and the hanging Witch-hair Lichen (
Usnea
) festoons many of the conifers in which the Waxwings will ultimately nest come the middle of June.

Deciding they too must head north, early May should see the majority of Bewick's Swans on the next leg of their epic voyage, which will see them departing to the White Sea on Russia's northern coast. Leaving from a wide variety of sites across Estonia, Latvia and the western outreaches of the Russian Federation, the swans will fly in a north-easterly direction, possibly over St Petersburg and into the Republic
of Karelia, a sparsely populated land composed primarily of trees and lakes. This federal subject of the Russian Federation has a long western border with Finland, is demarcated to the north by a 630km coastline with the White Sea and to the south with a convoluted border which abuts Europe's two largest lakes, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega, themselves situated within mother Russia. It's thought that the swans will either stop temporarily at these lakes or use them as way-markers while they take a north-easterly bearing, the direction which also represents the shortest overland distance to the White Sea. The brackish waters of the huge Dvina Bay and Dvina Delta, situated alongside the major Russian port of Arkhangelsk and within the White Sea, are around 1,000km from Estonia and represent an internationally renowned staging post for Bewick's Swans, both on their spring and autumn migrations. With many having flown directly from the Baltic, the swans are then thought to feed on the eelgrass and stoneworts in the bay while waiting for the sea ice to recede. This area is considered so important that in spring 1996 18,000 Bewick's Swans were estimated to have passed through the Dvina Bay region, a figure which at the time may have represented over 60% of the entire population of Bewick's Swans from the European flyway. Upon arrival the swans are thought to rest and feed up for a short time before then continuing to filter in a northwesterly direction which also follows roughly along the line of the Russian Federation's coastline. Passing through the strait that separates the White Sea from the Barents sea, the swans should be aware they're on the home straight as they press on to the maritime tundra further along the coast.

Even before the Bewick's Swans have arrived at their breeding grounds, early May back in Britain should see
many Robins' first broods taking their first leap into the big, wide world. Leaving the nest a mere fortnight after they hatched, the Robin chicks' flight feathers will still be growing when they take their leap of faith, so the fledglings will still need a couple more days until they're actually able to take to the air. At this stage many first broods will be abandoned by the female as she leaves them to be looked after solely by their father, in order to turn her attention to building another nest for her second brood. Despite dad's best efforts, the first few days outside the nest can be brutal for an inexperienced, flightless Robin chick, with many simply starving or falling prey to a whole raft of predators. Heavily speckled to disrupt their outline and aid camouflage in the undergrowth, those chicks that have managed to survive their first
septimana horribilis
should slowly begin finding at least some of their own food.

With the Lapwing chicks also vulnerable to predation at this early stage, their father will assume the mantle of chief lookout and guard. Standing slightly away from the mother and chicks, and in a good location to spot any potential predators approaching his charges, he will harry any perceived threat until they are driven away. Stoats or Weasels will be mercilessly mobbed, dogs can be attacked and he will often circle above humans while alarm calling, in an attempt both to distract the attacker and give the beautifully camouflaged chicks a moment to crouch down and freeze. As is the case for many young chicks, mortality is highest in the first few days, with one Dutch Lapwing researcher reporting that despite the best effort of the parents, 60 to 75% of all chicks were lost to predators within the first ten days. After this unrelenting period the number of chicks taken seems to steadily decline as the
young not only grow stronger, but also become more streetwise.

Able now to feed without needing their mother's help in dismembering prey, the young Tawny Owl chicks will soon become keen to break free of the constraints of nest life too. In most years, early May should see them spending long periods of time at the nest entrance before finally pluking up the courage to make a bid for freedom a few days later. The oldest chicks are evidently the first to leave the nest and will often be encouraged out by the soft contact calls of their mother from a nearby branch. Unable as yet to fly, their mode of transport will be climbing as they use a combination of talons, bill and flapping wings to work their way up into the branches of the tree – a process unsurprisingly called ‘branching'. At this early stage many chicks will fall out of trees, only to end up on the ground, but they innately seem to understand this is not a safe place to spend any time and so are usually able to quickly scramble back up again. After having left the nest site the young will not return again, but rarely travel far and often spend the first few days huddled together as both parents continue to bring in sufficient food to meet their insatiable demands. Still a mass of pearl-grey down, with their wing feathers bursting through, the chicks will spend at least the first week out of the nest precariously perched amongst the branches before they build up enough courage to take their first, silent flight. This maiden voyage will often be nothing more grandiose than a short gravity-defying flap between two trees, and will certainly be a case of one small step for the Owl but a giant step for Tawny-kind.