It's Spring!
Finally, after a winter of mostly grey, wet days, it feels like it might just be spring! This is a really interesting time of year, where winter migrants are starting to head back to their breeding grounds and our summer breeding visitors are starting to arrive. Its the time of year where local birding gets more exciting, as you never know what might turn up. Spring got off to a good start a couple of days ago up on the Malvern Hills (one of my regular stomping grounds) when I was very pleased to encounter this male Wheatear , my first of 2024. One of my favourite spring migrants, this Wheatear will be heading north to breed, perhaps in northern England or even Scandinavia. Chiffchaffs are starting to arrive in good numbers now with freshly arrived migrants from the Mediterranean turning up every day on my local birding sites. A few of these birds might actually be overwintering birds which didn't leave Britain for the winter, a phenomenon which has been occurring much more ...