Have you ever wondered what goes on after dark in your garden? What about what goes on over your garden?
As I walked out to my car on Friday night for a trip to the cinema, an unmistakable call sounded out twice as a bird flew over. It was a sound I associate with visits to the coast and especially muddy coastal marshes or estuaries. It was the call of a dunlin – one of several species of wader that are now stacking up in numbers at our wetlands for winter having arrived from the Arctic.
Where had my dunlin come from and where was it going? I'll never know, but speculating is half the fun! (Andy Hay rspb-images.com)
The chances are that the slightly “mucky” conditions – overcast and a little foggy, contributed to disorientating this little bird (or birds – it may have been one bird in a flock), but it may be that it knew exactly where it was going and had a plan. Birds are much cleverer than we think they are. The River Ouse runs at the bottom of the valley that my garden sits above and it forms part of an international migration flyway.
The commonest bird call you'll hear over your garden at night at this time of year is the redwing (Ben Andrew rspb-images.com)
The recent run of starry nights has been good for hearing redwings passing over. As you hear the unmistakable lisping call coming from the darkness, stop and think for a moment about the journey the birds will have taken to get here. They would have departed from Scandinavia a few hours before and might be close to their final destination. Imagine how that would feel to any intrepid traveler that may have faced all sorts of hazards on the journey?
Wigeons are sociable and noisy, making them a good target for night time listening over your garden now (Chris Gomersall rspb-images.com)
It’s well worth listening for all sorts of other birds at this time of year. Bewick’s swans are starting to arrive in some numbers now from Siberia and Pink-footed geese and whooper swans are still trickling in from Iceland. The whistle of wigeon is a good one to listen for and there are lots more marvelous migrations going on overhead as you sleep, so step outside for a while and see what you can hear.
There's lots more about migration in the Winter issue of Nature's Home magazine, including tips on the kit you can use to record the birds flying over your garden. Perfect for identifying them the next day, but the thrill of hearing these migrants for yourself will certainly keep out the chill this autumn.