 |
| Nightjar Adult Male. For more about this bird on the RSPB website |
Last month and this month.
The month of May is always an interesting one, bird wise, mainly because of the large number of summer migrants that arrive, and straight away set about forming breeding territories, and finding a mate.
This is the time of year when the dawn chorus is at its loudest with birds singing from every tree. Also the early arrivals and resident birds will have just about "fledged" their first brood of babies. Gardens, parks and wooded areas are now alive to the sound of baby birds, calling out for food, and this will continue throughout the coming months.
June is often regarded as one of the quieter months for birdwatchers, as all the summer migrants have arrived, and return migration doesn’t really get going until later in July, but one of the fascinations of birdwatching is that anything can turn up anywhere, at anytime, so you still need to keep a careful watch on what's around.
The highlights of the past month have been Spotted Flycatchers, and Nightingales returning to our local wooded areas.Nightjars are now calling at dusk in all their usual places, and Terns can been seen fishing off the beaches.
It's always worth checking flocks of Terns closely if you can, as recently the rarer Roseate Tern and Whiskered Tern have been seen as close as Tichfield, just across Southampton water.
The "star" bird this past month, must be the report I had of a Wryneck at a site in Fawley on the 28th, and I personally spotted a Little Ringed Plover at the Fawley gravel extraction site. This brings me nicely to my "where to go" section. There is an area of land between Blackfield and Fawley that is well worth a visit.
"Toms Down", "Fields Heath" and "Badminston Common" are accessible from many roads in the area, and take you across heathland with wooded areas, and the gravel pit by Badminston Road. I took a walk there recently and counted over 50 species including Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker, Yellowhammer, Cuckoo, Buzzard, Little Ringed Plover, and Garden Warbler, plus a Roe Deer. This is a very underwatched area that has great potential to turn up many more species and rarities, and is well worth a look.
My Garden
The birds in my garden are eating more food now than they have all winter. I’ve now got up to 15 baby Starlings trying to get on to my bird table and feeders, all at the same time. They are quite comical to watch, as they seem to want to continually fight each other for "feeding rights".
 |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker. For more about this bird visit the RSPB website |
They are quite noisy too! I have also had a regular visit from a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers who I believe are nesting in an old Oak tree a few doors away. I’m particularly pleased about this as I hadn’t seen them in the garden before.
I’m also regularly visited by a family of Blue Tits, Greenfinches, Jackdaws, Rooks, and an occasional Goldcrest, and I’m getting through about 10 fatballs per day.
This goes to prove that recent studies by the RSPB saying you should continue feeding birds throughout the year is true, and vitally important to help garden birds survive.
Finally, thank you to all those who have emailed me with sighting reports and suggested sites to visit, please continue to do so. I’ve also set up a Yahoo group to discuss garden bird feeding and local Fawley birds. Please come and join in (there's only 2 of us so far!!!)
The site is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nutbags.
Happy Birding.
Paul |
