Nightingales in November (57 page)

On arrival in the ‘Granite City', having flown either directly from Scandinavia or from earlier staging posts in the Northern Isles, it seems that the Waxwings' first tree of choice is the Rowan. While the Mountain Ash or Rowan is a native species commonly encountered in the woods of northern and western Britain, many of the Rowans we see in our urban streets tend to be either similar species of Japanese or Chinese origin or cultivars of our native species. Commonly planted by councils for their compact shape, and autumn leaf and winter berry colour, these trees provide the perfect welcome mat for this ‘pink punk' vanguard as the Waxwings descend to gorge themselves to their hearts' content.

As the first Waxwings take advantage of Aberdeen's street food, the Bewick's Swans should by now be on the final leg of their massive 3,000 to 3,500km long migration. With large numbers having spent the last couple of weeks spread out across Estonia, Lithuania and the Gulf of Finland, a combination of good feeding conditions and lack of disturbance should see the swans sufficiently rejuvenated to head off for their final destination in north-west Europe. Tracking along either the northern, or more commonly the southern shores of the
Baltic Sea, the birds will probably follow a similar migratory path to the one they chose in spring, although the significance of various stopover sites may well vary between the seasons. During the autumn passage, however, fewer records of ringed birds would seem to suggest that the swans do not congregate in the large numbers seen during spring migration, but instead prefer to move quickly on to their final port of call. By observing the departures and arrivals of marked birds, it seems the swans will complete this move from the Baltic staging sites to their wintering grounds in around a week. Many of the swans will fly directly to Britain, but a significant number may also stop briefly to feed on the large stands of pondweeds at sites such as Lake Lauwersmeer in the northern Netherlands. This last pit stop should enable them to top up on fuel before making the short hop across the North Sea to either return to their old stomping grounds, or in the case of the juveniles, become acquainted with Britain for the first time.

Also closing in on their wintering grounds, current research on the satellite tracking of British Cuckoos has shown that certainly most of the male birds (as females are a shade too light to have the current transmitters attached) will have moved into the Congo Basin by the middle of October. Followed for four consecutive years before his disappearance in the Sahara Desert in August 2015, Chris the Cuckoo was not only able to show remarkable site fidelity to his breeding grounds on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, but also a certain faithfulness to wintering in the Western Congolian swamp forests too. One particular area that figured heavily on Chris's itinerary in most winters was around the River Likouala aux Herbes, situated in the north-east of the Republic of Congo. Despite incursions from recent logging practices, this region close to the Congo River is still considered to be heavily forested due to its isolation, making it not only a stronghold
for largely undeveloped Pygmy tribes but also a hugely important area for Elephants, Gorillas, Chimpanzees and Dwarf Crocodiles. Still only largely accessible by river ports or the local Impfondu Airport further to the north, the temporarily and permanently flooded swamp forests running alongside the River Likouala aux Herbes contain huge swathes of inundated grasses, giving the adjacent banks the appearance of huge floating prairies. The region is considered to have a year-round tropical climate settling at around 25°C, and with a rainy season running from March to November, the perennially warm and seasonally wet conditions should theoretically enable the Cuckoos to have no problem finding enough invertebrate food to more than power their annual moult.

With the Cuckoos settling down for winter, our Swallows will have no time for loitering to enjoy the delights of the Congolian swamp forests as they press on towards southern Africa. Capable of clocking up to 300km each day, distinct topographical features such as the Congo and Likouala aux Herbes Rivers could be of huge navigational significance as these international jet-setters exchange the Congo Basin's green blanket for the more arid habitats found further south in Angola and Zambia. Well known as a common breeding bird right across Eurasia, hirundine expert Angela Turner reckoned that an estimated European breeding population of between 16 and 36 million pairs could see anywhere from 80 to 190 million Swallows streaming south through Africa during this period. Reliant on flying invertebrates for their staple food, it is thought only the southern hemisphere's warm spring and summer ‘austral' temperatures are capable of producing sufficient quantities of food to cater adequately for such a large population of ravenous insectivores, until the lure of the northern spring once again beckons in the New Year.

The believed spring and autumn migratory routes of Swallows between their wintering grounds in South Africa and southern Europe.

Having already crossed into Africa at least a month after their huge hop from southern Europe, the mostly ground-feeding technique of Nightingales means that their continued southward journey will need to be carried out at a far more sedate pace than observed in the speedier Swallows. Preferring to ‘hug' the coast, these natural-born skulkers may well furtively forage from bush to bush while continuing their steady southward movement through Western Sahara and on towards Mauritania.

Despite a small number of British-bred Lapwings also reaching North Africa each winter, the vast majority of these erigmatic waders will usually choose to stay much
closer to their breeding grounds than the more traditional summer migrants like Cuckoos, Swallows and Nightingales. Any large-scale movement of Lapwings also tends to be reactive rather than instinctive, such as in response to freezing conditions, rather than along the far more predetermined, traditional routes taken by most migratory birds. Also opting for a safety in numbers strategy away from the breeding grounds, it will not be until early spring that the gregarious Lapwing flocks which came together in high summer, and which are such a feature of the British countryside in winter, will finally start to disintegrate as the birds return to their summering stations.

Slightly less fussy about the company they keep, our Blue Tits will also be sticking together, as they too remain confined in their mixed species flocks right the way through to early spring. With the adults already sporting fresh plumage after the completion of their annual moult, any young Blue Tits still surviving from the summer's brood should by now also be finishing their partial moult, as they finally resemble their parents in appearance. Not quite a total replacement job, the completed moult will see the main flight feathers and possibly some of the wing coverts still retained from the chicks' original plumage, a handy feature that will enable bird ringers to still identify them in the hand as ‘first-year birds'. Only when these immature Blue Tits have completed their first breeding cycle will ringers finally consider them to be inseparable in the hand from fully mature birds.