This Sunday we have the second of our guided bird id walks that follows on from September’s walk in which we looked at bird song and behaviour. This time round we’ll be taking a particular look at winter migrants to Dove Stone.
Fieldfares have just started to arrive at Dove Stone. We’ve had recent sightings just last Saturday of groups of around thirty to forty Fieldfare in the trees and fields behind the main carpark and in particular feeding on Hawthorn. As well as berries Fieldfares will also be feeding on worms. The Life for a Life area next to Chew Brook is also a good place to look for Fieldfare moving between the beech trees here and feeding on Rowan berries.
Fieldfare numbers might increase further and these migrants shoud be in the UK until around March. With the Fieldfares we might also see numbers of Redwing; there has been some research that shows it is more often Fieldfare joining Redwing, the research also suggesting that there is an advantage to detecting food when in a mixed flock and that there is a difference in the preference that each of these species have for the age of the feeding ground they use that in turn seems to relate to the ease of feeding and availability of food. Here's the link to this research paper and more info: http://www.jstor.org/pss/4534237
The name Fieldfare is thought to perhaps come from the Anglo-Saxon feldefare which is said to have perhaps meant ‘ traveller through the fields ’. Birds arriving at Dove Stone will have travelled from Scandinavia or possibly the former Soviet Union and the Baltic States. Not all Scandinavian Fieldfares migrate but for those that do normal migration will be over by mid-November. However, if it’s a particularly hard winter there and if there are a shortage of berries then we can expect birds arriving later in the year too. If this happens it’s possible we might also see, like last year, large numbers of Waxwings in the area.
Other winter visitors we’re expecting to see include flocks of Brambling as well as increased numbers of resident birds such as Siskin, Long-tailed tit, Goldfinch and Crossbills, the latter have been seen recently up at Dove Stone’s Binn Green / top carpark area.
Other recent sightings include Treecreeper, Buzzard, Goldcrest, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Raven and Great spotted woodpecker, Dipper and Jay. Also around and about are Pink footed geese, with a possible sighting at Dove Stone a couple of weeks back.
So, there should be plenty to see on Sunday. If you’r e interested in joining us then the walk starts at 10.30am, meeting in Dove Stone’s main carpark. If you’d like to book a place then please contact Rachel on 0825022636 or email rachel.downham@rspb.org.uk.
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