The cycles of the natural world are bringing us back to autumn and those cycles see some birds leaving us until next Spring and others arriving for the winter. We have some new boards up around the reserve celebrating this great movement of feathered life.
What do you think of when you think of autumn migration?
I tend to think mostly about things leaving – the ‘goings’ – like the swallows and swifts off on their amazing journeys back to Africa. But the ‘comings’ are really important at Sandwell Valley. It might be hard to believe but for many birds the UK is a desirable winter destination. So Snipe numbers in the UK go from around 80000 breeding pairs to 1.1 million birds – if you want to see one now is a good time to get down to the hide to try to spot one. We see many winter visitors at the lake, including Goosander, Teal and Shoveler, while Lapwings numbers can increase substantially.
Less noticeable perhaps are all the visitors that join our resident songbirds – sometimes, because we are used to seeing them around, we don’t notice that there are more of them about. Starling numbers in the UK double in the winter and that is one case where we do start to notice them as it is all the extra Starling that lead to the amazing murmurations that, in some special places, we can see at dusk. I really like the idea that to people in Finland, the Starling is like the Swallow is to us – it’s leaving a sign that winter is around the corner and then its arrival back bringing early summer with it.
See what changes you can notice in the bird life around you this autumn.