Page 5 - Wildlife News April 2018

spring in Better weather means there’s every excuse to get outside
your step
for a springtime stroll. Looking for ideas? Find them at
bbowt.org.uk/nature-reserves/wild-walks

journey’s end by Colin Williams, Reserves Ecology Officer

As an avid birdwatcher, April is an exciting time of year. The long, Tune in
monotonous winter is over and the action-packed, ever-changing tmLreaitgntrqhauneitlespv–loaaccnaet:dibvoebtohsowenrtgb.oiorrdfgso.u–ukrc/faabrvriroyduy-rosituoenosgfufsmtomaer
spring season is with us. The Groundhog Days of winter are
replaced by new life and unpredictability all around us; no two Reed warbler feeding cuckoo chick (david tipling)
days are the same.

Nothing better encapsulates the march of spring than the
arrival of our avian summer migrants from warmer climes. The
humble chiffchaff is often the first to be found. They are difficult
to spot as they skulk in dense scrub but they often reveal their
presence by singing their name ‘chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff’. Due to our
milder winters increasing numbers are now overwintering here,
so my first chiffchaff of spring, which I usually spot at Oxford’s
Iffley Meadows, may not be a new arrival from Africa but rather
the local park down the road.

Mid-April usually heralds the arrival of another distinctive
songster. It is always helpful when the bird sings its name. Sadly
the cuckoo is a rare visitor to our region nowadays, though
Calvert Jubilee in Buckinghamshire is still a reliable site for them.
They are attracted by the abundance of nesting reed warblers
and reed buntings in the lakeside vegetation. These are two of the
cuckoo’s common host species.

One of our latest summer migrants puts in an appearance
by the end of April. The arrival of swifts can go overlooked until
you are greeted by a party of birds screeching down your local
high street… one of the iconic sights and sounds of summer.
These masters of the air can gather in large feeding flocks over
water soon after returning from Africa. Hosehill Lake (Berks)
and College Lake (Bucks) are good places to look for them,
particularly in unsettled weather when their aerial prey is forced
low over the water, affording great views of the feeding birds.

April is such an exciting time to get out and about on our nature
reserves to discover which new summer migrants have returned
from wintering grounds thousands of miles to the south. Don’t
miss this opportunity, because it will be over in the blink of an eye.

Swift or swallow?

Once you get your eye in, it’s easy to tell them apart.

Swift. Swallow.
(DAVID TIPLING) (SHUTTERSTOCK)

Chiffchaff (JANET PACKHAM PHOTOGRAPHY) Swift Swallow
n Sickle shaped wings n Long forked tail
n Fast flier and glider n White to buff underneath
n Often look black against n Fast, swooping flight
n Twittering song
the sky n Often seen perching
n Piercing, ‘screaming’ call
n Never seen perching on wires

Wildlife news / April 2018 5