Nightingales in November (45 page)

At Puffin colonies around the British Isles, those birds which successfully managed to negotiate their young through to fledging will already have deserted the breeding grounds in their droves by early August, with an exodus rather than a gradual withdrawal being the chosen method of departure at most sites. This will give many well-known puffinries a slightly worn-out and unloved appearance as they become deprived of these colourful and characterful birds for another year. In most seasons breeding success will be dictated by food availability, with between 60 and 80% of pairs managing to see their Puffling successfully fledge in those years with abundant Sandeel stocks. The predation level of chicks tends to be highest at those sites with smaller, less densely packed
colonies of Puffins and where the safety in numbers strategy is less effective. Additionally, the synchronised emergence of hordes of young at the larger, crowded puffinries will be more effective at swamping the relatively few predators hoping to make a meal out of a defenceless fledgling.

As the Nightingales, Puffins and Cuckoos desert our shores, the double- and even occasionally triple-brooded nature of many Swallows should ensure that many of these industrious hirundines will hang on in Britain for at least another month before they too feel the irresistible pull of the African continent. As the second clutch of Swallow chicks' demand for food increases exponentially and the female is needed less for brooding this will lead to both parents being suddenly press-ganged into foraging from dawn to dusk. It was of course the famous ‘parson-naturalist' Gilbert White who wrote in 1789 that ‘all the summer long is the Swallow a most instructive pattern of unwearied industry and affection; for, from morning to night, while there is a family to be supported, she spends the whole day in skimming close to the ground'.

Swallows are exceptionally well adapted for a mode of flight that demands plenty of changes of direction, and when foraging this manoeuvrability is achieved by constantly switching between flapping and gliding. While flapping uses more energy it is of course much faster than gliding and so tends to be used as the main technique. This energetic mode will be interspersed with short gliding periods rarely lasting longer than a couple of seconds. When seen skimming across a field chasing insects, Swallows can give the impression of flying quite quickly, but this is deceptive as their speed is usually clocked at little more than a relatively sedate 8 to 11 metres per second. Their speed will of course vary according to the insects they are pursuing, as fast flight will commonly be needed to catch mobile insects such as
horseflies, hoverflies and bluebottles, while a combination of slower flight and gliding will be more than enough to hoover up the weaker flying aphids and midges. Most insects are also caught by the Swallows flying upwards to take them from below, and this is thought to both prevent the insect diving as a means of escape and also to help the bird pick up their quarry more easily against the sky rather than a backdrop of vegetation. Befitting a species that spends a significant part of its life in the air, Swallows have also been calculated as being far more energy efficient than many other birds in flight. Their streamlined shape, relatively long wings and low wing-loading all help reduce the power that the Swallows need to stay airborne. When their long wingspan in relation to the wing area (or high aspect ratio) is also factored in this helps the Swallows to fly slowly without stalling and also when turning to catch insects. These tight turns are also ably assisted by the birds' fanned tail, which when spread, lowered or twisted can give the vital micro-adjustments considered so crucial as they hone in on their target. Finally, their broad bill will help ensure many more strikes than misses.

After close to four weeks in their fortified chamber, many young Kingfishers from second broods will be ready to fledge by early August. Increasingly cramped in their ever more pungent surroundings, the nesting chamber will be barely fit for purpose by the time the young finally decide to take the one-way ticket down the tunnel and into a world of untold danger. Looking not too dissimilar from their parents, there are a few features that do set the juvenile Kingfishers apart. Overall they tend to be duller in colour, with a dirty wash across their upper chest, have much darker feet and a conspicuous white tip to the bill. It will also be some time before the juveniles have mastered the
characteristic shrill whistle so distinctive of the adults, and in the intervening period will have to make do with a ‘chip' type call which they employ to stay in contact with their parents. Initially they will harass their parents mercilessly to be fed, but it will be only a few days before their parents tire of those antics, forcing the young to either rapidly learn the art of fishing or go hungry. Becoming waterlogged and drowning is a very real threat to the young apprentice Kingfishers as they learn their trade, and they will also need to develop a proficiency in stunning their prey before swallowing in order to ease the fish's passage down their gullet. Another key life skill will be understanding the importance of keeping their plumage in tip-top condition by regular preening. Like the youngsters of any species, some juveniles will learn faster than others, and in the ‘dog-eat-dog' world of the Kingfisher it will be the birds that are both keen to learn and take pride in their appearance that will have a much higher probability of surviving through the winter and beyond.

Still very much a family party, the Bewick's Swan cygnets feeding away in the perpetual daylight of the Arctic Russian tundra will be growing quickly with the arrival of the first days of August. The family will be feeding on sedges, grasses and the berries of plants like Cloudberry, Cowberry and Crowberry, which should all be ripening by now. But while foraging they will still need to be constantly alert to the presence of predators across this flat, unforgiving landscape, particularly as both parents may still be flightless. Despite the long days, the temperature will already have begun to drop, with the closest town of Naryan-Mar, for example, falling from an annual high of around 13.5°C in July to an August average of 10.5°C. Dropping quickly after this shortest of summers the temperature on the swans' breeding grounds
will then probably remain below 0°C for the entire period between October and April, only thawing once the swans return in May.

Also preferring to keep it in the family on the breeding grounds, the adult Waxwings will only just have begun their annual moult, which is likely to continue through to November and possibly even December. The extended nature of this moult means that in all likelihood most of the Waxwings arriving in Britain, from October onwards, will still be actively replacing their feathers on the move.

Also carrying out a partial moult of their body feathers, most of the young Waxwings will still be quite some distance behind any early fledged British Robins which should just be applying the finishing touches to their moult by early August. Shedding their spotty plumage, as the distinctive orange-red spreads from the upper centre of the breast outwards and downwards, the Robins on completion of their first moult should be pretty similar to how their parents looked in the breeding season. Adopting the badge of maturity ahead of the adults who are still in mid-moult will see the young pretenders looking to steal a march on the ‘seniors' as they set about trying to hold a territory for the very first time.