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 frequently in recent years.

The Chiffchaff's close relative, the Willow Warbler, migrates later in the season than Chiffchaff, with most birds arriving in April. However, small numbers do start to arrive in late March and I've seen them locally a few times over the past week.

My visible migration watches up on Much Marcle Ridge have been quite good recently, a session a couple of weeks ago being particularly exciting. There was a large spring movement of Woodpigeon that morning, with 1,051 through. These are most likely to be continental birds which will have overwintered in France and are now coming back to Britain to breed. We get far larger numbers moving through in the opposite direction in Autumn, which you can read more about in one of my previous blog posts here. 

As we get into spring I've started to take a walk north along the ridge to see if any migrants have arrived. I haven't seen anything particularly interesting yet, apart from this stunning male Brambling. A migrant from northern Europe this bird will have wintered somewhere in Britain - by now, its probably crossed the North Sea and is now finding a territory somewhere in Scandinavia.

Interestingly, it was perched up and calling, using its distinctive 'jeet' call. I've got a theory about Brambling calls, which may or may not be correct! 

When I was at Spurn back in October 2023 (blog post about that trip here) all 369 Brambling I saw during that time were 'jeet' calling. However, as soon as I got back home and saw them locally, they had all reverted to the much softer, Chaffinch like 'chup' call. My theory is that during migration their use the 'jeet' call, but once they're settled on their wintering grounds they use the Chaffinch like 'chup' call. Why they do that I'm not sure.

I'd be really interested to hear if anyone else has noticed this.

My volunteering at WWT Slimbridge has been quite productive recently, with the main highlight being Little Gulls. On the 8th of March a flock of 4, closely followed by a single bird, flew upriver and exactly 10 days later I found a 1st-winter bird which was feeding over an area known as the Tack Piece. Little Gull has to be one of my favourite species of gull, such beautiful little birds!

Little Gull is primarily a passage species in Britain with birds in Spring heading up from their wintering sites off the west coast of continental Europe to breed in Scandinavia or eastern Europe. In Autumn this passage is reversed.

Another superb bird I've seen on the Tack Piece whilst volunteering at Slimbridge, was this absolutely stunning drake Garganey mixing in with the Teal yesterday.

The views were fantastic as it was swimming right next to the hide, allowing for a great opportunity to view its beautiful plumage in detail. 

A scarce breeder in Britain, Garganey nest locally in East Anglia and Southern England and overwinter in West Africa. However, this is most likely to be a passage bird, passing through on its way to Central or Northern Europe to breed.

A group of birds I have so far not mentioned are the Hirundines, the classic summer migrants. Sand Martins are often the first to arrive and my first of the year was a group of around 100 feeding over Frampton Court Lake in Gloucestershire. Mixed in with them was a House Martin, a much scarcer bird at this time of year as they typically arrive a good few weeks later. I saw my first Swallow of the year a few days ago as it flew over the southbound M50 motorway! Can't beat a bit of motorway birding...

And the best bit is that all this is just the start - we've still got a month or so of full-on spring migration left to enjoy. I wonder what else will turn up...