Guest Blog by Andrew Hill - Autumn Bird Migration at KFP
As early as it may seem, the end of July is the start of the autumn bird migration. The Common Swift, which is a frequent summer visitor to KFP, generally starts its 7,000 mile journey back to Southern Africa by the end of July. Swallows and House Martins, who have been enjoying our new ponds this summer, stayed on until mid-September. Our Swallows have had a good summer, with young birds being much in evidence throughout July and August.
A wide range of warblers visit KFP during the summer. Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Common Whitethroat are the most numerous, with smaller numbers of Willow Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats and Garden Warblers. This year, most had left KFP by the end of August to start their journey back to southern Europe and Africa. Milder winter temperatures, however, are encouraging Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps to overwinter in the south of the UK. Time will tell over the next few years if some of these birds will decide to stay at KFP all year round as well!
An exciting aspect of migration is the possibility of birds appearing ‘en route’ to their wintering grounds (so-called ‘passage’ birds). This can involve those that have nested further north in the UK and also in Scandinavia, interrupting their migration and ‘calling’ into sites for a rest or to feed. At the end of August, ‘passage’ birds arrived at KFP, which included at least 15 Common Whitethroats, 5-10 Spotted Flycatchers and a single female Common Redstart. They remained in a hedgerow on the edge of Butler Hills for a couple of days, before continuing their migration south. Interestingly the Spotted Flycatcher and the Redstart are both birds that already nest in North Yorkshire, so we can hope that they might start to breed at KFP in the future?
Just as the migration of our summer visitors south started to dwindle, the middle of September saw the arrival of our first winter visitors. Whilst not landing at KFP, several skeins of Pink-Footed Geese flew over the park on their way to the east coast from their breeding grounds in Eastern Greenland, Iceland & Norway .
Over the last fortnight, Redwings have been appearing at KFP having flown from their breeding grounds in Scandinavia and Iceland. These thrushes are common in winter and particularly enjoy feeding on the berries of the hawthorn and rowan trees at KFP. The Redwing numbers will increase over the next few weeks and will be joined by other wintering thrushes and finches.
Seasonal movement of birds ensure that there is an ever changing variety of birds to be seen at KFP. As the autumn progresses and more of our winter visitors arrive, I will include them in a future update, to let you know what you might see during walks around KFP this winter.
What a wonderful report and set of photos! We're so lucky to have volunteers like Andrew.