With autumn on the way, it really is time to move on. For most of us, it means sending your kids off to a new year at school and breaking out the winter woollies. But without the winter woollies our wildlife comes up with other ways of moving on. Now’s the chance to make the most of all the animals that will be hibernating before they disappear and also our summer birds like the swifts, swallows and martins. Why not take ten minutes (or longer if you have the time) to sit in your garden and listen out for all those noises of summer, a great way to relax at the end of the week. This is also a very exciting time of year, as we get “passage migrants”. These are birds that summer and winter further north and south than us, but pass through our neighbourhood on the way. Amazing sights, like wheatear, have come back to the reserve and a temmincks stint has been spotted at bowling green marsh. But the one I want to focus on is the osprey. Just now, I said about sending your kids to school, well imagine sending your kids to Africa, without a map! That is exactly what ospreys do. This time last week, I was at the RSPB Abernethy reserve watching ospreys disappear one by one as they head off to Africa. One of which left on the Tuesday and was already at the bay of Biscay by that Friday! However some take it slower than that and stop here at the exe for a while. If you’ve never seen an osprey fishing before head down to the Bowling Green viewing platform and keep an eye out. It is one of the funniest and most spectacular things in nature. Splosh, flap flap and its away. Not quite as graceful as the gannets we see along the coast, but just look as the size of the fish they get, some over half their body length and caught with their talons. Then they position one foot in front of the other and fly the fish headfirst like a torpedo because it’s more aerodynamic. So for those of you who don’t want to travel all the way to the highlands to see this spectacle, pack up you bins and head to Bowling Green for your chance, because once you see it, you won’t stop thinking about it.
Don’t worry if you’re not heading south for the winter as here on the Exminster marshes we are going to great lengths to make winter amazing. Remember weed wiping 101? Well we’ve been ditch edge cutting all the fields as another part of our welcome for all the wintering waterfowl so you can see and hear the nature spectacle once more. Keep an eye out as teal are already around in big numbers.