If there’s one thing that gets me excited in April, it’s a good weather forecast. Now when I say good, I don’t mean clear blue skies, blazing sunshine and a gentle, warming wind. I want cold north and east winds, ideally some heavy rain, at least a short sharp April shower or two, and to really make my day, some early morning mist.
I'll explain, just in case you think I've lost the plot. It’s not that I don’t enjoy hot weather - it’s fabulous for wildlife watching in many cases - but when it comes to seeing and finding migrant birds, you need some adverse weather to encourage these travelers to stop off, or at least make them fly lower as they move through. A headwind often makes birds fly lower because the airflow is reduced at ground level. In spring, when bird are flying north, this means that northerly winds can perversely be quite helpful!
Inland lakes are great places for terns, waders, swallows and martins, ospreys and much more to pause and feedon migration. Those grey clouds wil help too! (Eleanor Bentall rspb-images.com)Cross country routeA great example occurred yesterday when it came to a bird that is relatively common around our coasts, but inland, it is a really good find. The Sandwich tern is not named after its feeding habits, but the Kentish coastal town. It is a big tern with a shaggy black crest and a yellow-tipped beak – dipped in butter perhaps? It is also very noisy with harsh, grating “Kerrickk!” calls that leave you in doubt that they are around.
They are one of the earliest of the star migrants I hope to find dropping in at my local reservoir in spring, maybe for just a few minutes. It’s a narrow window of opportunity to see one, and even that is not guaranteed as only a handful may pass through each spring, cutting across land from the Severn Estuary to Norfolk’s coastline.
Punk-crested Sandwich terns nest in colonies at the coast, but they'll cut across land on migration from West Africa (Chris Gomersall rspb-images.com)
Sunday morning came and I checked the national bird news. Ah. Flocks of Sandwich terns had been reported several sites from Yorkshire down to Cambridgeshire with a whopping flock of 19 in neighbouring Northamptonshire. A quick check of the weather made me realise I’d made a mistake. There had been overnight fog and with a northerly element to the wind, it had ensured flocks of Sandwich terns had passed through several sites. They often pass through early and as it was now 09.30, I’d probably missed my best chance.
Out the door with the promise of “I’ll only be half an hour” and I arrived at the watery expanse that is Grafham Water, two miles from home. I was almost sure I’d find a flock of Sandwich terns sitting on the boom off the fishing harbour or hear their calls ringing out, but nothing. 20 minutes later and news came through that three were at my other local haunt, Paxton Pits, so off I went. Again, I scanned eagerly over the gravel workings, hoping to find them lined up on a sandy spit, but no joy. Then news that three (almost certainly the same!) were now at Grafham!
A shaggy black crest and a yellow-tipped bill are a characterstic of this charismatic tern (Mike Langan rspb-images.com)
I was pushing my luck on time, but after all the effort, I had to clap eyes on them, so I drove round to the north shore where I could view the whole reservoir and with the wind now a strong, warm southerly, I could see the backsides of three Sandwich terns huddled up on a red buoy out in the water. They faced into the wind to stop their feathers getting too ruffled. Occasionally they turned round, showing that lovely crest and long bill. Beautiful.
The wind, and the weather, is going to feature in my blog posts over the next few weeks and I’ll share some of my tips for migrant finding through April and May. Let’s just hope we have some horrible weather...
Brush up on your tern ID this springSeveral species of tern are on the move in spring, so why not brush up on your tern ID and calls on our website?