Nightingales in November (46 page)

Those Peregrine Falcons that fledged earlier in the summer will still maintain loose bonds with both their parents and their natal site into August, but as they continue to become ever more independent and explore sites further afield,
following their progress becomes more difficult. By now, the flocks of moulting Lapwings will also have become highly mobile as they continue to exploit the best feeding areas either close to their breeding grounds or further afield. Certainly British-breeding Lapwings have some of the least understood migrations, as the population will contain a combination of flocks moving within Britain and also birds migrating either to Ireland or even the continent, leading to a very complex picture. However with a plethora of feeding opportunities, plenty of warm days and the majority of continental Lapwings still to arrive, this will inevitably become a time of intense feeding in preparation for the colder weather to come.

By late summer, many juvenile and adult Blue Tits will have merged to form flocks with possibly dozens of other birds from a variety of species. With the food patchily dispersed, a single Blue Tit could spend much of the day attempting to track down the best feeding sites, but its chances of finding good food supplies will be vastly increased by joining forces. Linking up with Great Tits, Coal Tits, Goldcrests, Wrens and even Treecreepers, as well as Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps before they migrate, the mixed flock can work a circuit of woodland, scrub or rural gardens in the full knowledge there will also be more pairs of eyes on the lookout for danger. The different species frequently travel and feed together with little conflict as they will tend to occupy subtly different niches when foraging. Often losing sight of one another as they each search amongst the foliage, twigs, branches and trunks, they will listen out for the contact calls as the flock moves on; being left behind would make the individual more vulnerable to predation. Feeding with acrobatic dexterity on the outer branches and flimsiest of twigs should enable the Blue Tits to hopefully find sufficient
food while ensuring they don't either compete with the other species in the foraging flock or become food for Sparrowhawks themselves. The only other species which might compete for the same feeding niche as the Blue Tits, such as Coal Tits and Goldcrests, tend to be either subordinate in the dominance hierarchy, or in the case of the Long-tailed Tits, prefer to keep to their own kind.

Having hatched back in early April, the young Tawny Owls will finally be taking the first tentative steps away from their parents' territory. Initially they may just roost away, only to come back to the site they know best to hunt, but before long they will will bid farewell to their parents and move out permanently. On departure, it's thought the youngsters will explore the wider surrounding area as they scout for a location in which to settle permanently. However, extensive ringing, radio telemetry and satellite tracking has shown the juvenile Tawny Owls will rarely move far from home, with the most common distance between where they hatched and ultimately settled only around 4km. By collating all ringing records, the BTO discovered that a mere 7% of young Tawny Owl recoveries were found more than 20km from where they hatched. The record movement of 687km was by a young Tawny Owl ringed in the Scottish Highlands as a chick, only to be later recovered dead in Dyfed, Wales. The likeliest explanation for this extraordinary distance is that the owl must have been accidentally hit by a vehicle, before then becoming trapped until it finally became dislodged in Wales.

Rarely breeding until at least two years old, the best hope for any dispersing juvenile will be to either chance upon a vacant territory, or replace an adult that hasn't survived the breeding season. For those not lucky enough to immediately strike ‘territory' gold, there will always be the fall-back
position of becoming a non-territorial ‘floating' bird, in the full knowledge that if they get caught by the resident pair they will be driven out with little mercy!

Mid-August

By the time that British school holidays are well under way, the majority of seabird colonies will already have become Puffin-free zones, as the birds abandon their colonies and head off out to sea. Having bid farewell to terra firma for another year, many will have already begun their annual moult, resulting in a far more muted and drab winter plumage. This new coat – and perhaps this is no coincidence – seems to match the dull, uninspiring colours prevalent in both the North Sea and North Atlantic throughout winter. Perhaps the most noticeable change between the Puffin's appearance during the breeding season and throughout winter can be seen on its bill, as the bright orange-red sheaths are sloughed off to reveal a far more slimline black and dull-red beak. In addition, the bright red ornaments around the eye are shed, the cheek rosettes at the base of the bill shrink and fade, the feet lose their bright orange coloration and dusky-coloured feathers emerge from the previously pale grey face patches. As the birds take on a far more sombre appearance, the only feathers retained from the breeding season will be those directly responsible for flight, which will not be shed until much later in the year.

Recent research seems to indicate that British-breeding Puffins will disperse widely upon leaving the colony, but thanks to the BTO's work tracking British-breeding Nightingales with geolocators, it seems they may pass along
a far more defined migratory path as they head south through Europe. Data collected from the ground-breaking Nightingale ‘OAD' indicated that by the middle of August, having initially arrived in France, it then set off in a direction towards the Iberian Peninsula. Following a similar route to the migratory path Nightingales are believed to take when travelling north in spring, it seems that Spain and Portugal are not just exploited for rest and recuperation after crossing the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, but also in preparation for tackling them on the southward journey too. Travelling south at a much more sedate pace compared with the race to get to their breeding grounds in spring, by now the British-breeding birds could well be mingling with a much larger contingent of French Nightingales also bound for Africa. Boasting up to a million pairs of Nightingales each summer, the sheer size of the French population illustrates how Britain is, and probably always has been, right on the edge of the species' natural range.

Having departed Britain well before the Nightingales, it is no surprise that in most years the vast majority of Cuckoos will have already moved south of the Sahara Desert by the middle of this month. For example in the four years between 2011 and 2014 that Chris the Cuckoo was tracked during his southward migration, only in 2014 did he not manage to reach Chad by mid-August. Chris's late arrival into Africa that year also seemed to have mirrored the progress of many of the other tracked Cuckoos that summer, which were also observed delaying their departure from Europe for reasons unknown.

Land-locked by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the south-west and Niger to the west, land-locked Chad is Africa's fifth largest country. Roughly split
into three major geographical zones, the northern third of the country comprises desert in the form of the southern Sahara. This arid region then gives way to the Sahelian belt in Chad's centre, followed by the Eastern Sudanian savanna in the wetter southern third of the country. While the Sahel consists largely of semi-arid steppe dominated by palms and thorny acacia bushes, the higher rainfall in the savanna region creates a far more fertile environment, resulting in a much richer diversity of wildlife. Mostly consisting of large swathes of grassland ideal for grazing, in addition to elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffes, antelopes and many of the large African carnivores, this hugely diverse region has recorded over 500 species of birds and over 1,000 endemic plant species. The Cuckoos are thought to time their arrival in the savanna to coincide with the middle of the region's wet season, which is brought about by the ‘intertropical front' operating between May and October. Driving a huge flush of plant growth, the arrival of the rains will also promote an abundance of attendant larvae, such as caterpillars, which theoretically will then be presumably targeted by hungry Cuckoos keen to refuel after such an exhausting flight.