Author: Jamie Wyver / Source: Positive News
This season is a time of magical migrations and spectacular wildlife sights. Jamie Wyver of the RSPB recommends what to look out for
Autumn is a really exciting season for watching birds, because this is a time of mass movement. Birds that have spent the summer here fly south, and others join us from the north.
Some are just passing through, and a few of those might even be visiting by accident. On a day out in the countryside you never know what you might see. Flocks of ducks and winter thrushes, graceful swans and honking geese. Our lakes, marshes and wet grasslands really come to life as the autumn arrivals pour in.Imagine the epic journeys the birds have made. The Bewick’s swan, for example, will have travelled an incredible 4,500 miles (7,242 km) from Russia. Knot, turnstones and light-bellied brent geese fly in from Canada and Greenland, flying distances of up to 5,500km (3,400 miles).
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Birds like these will have spent their breeding seasons on the tundra, many in areas where there are 24 hours of sunlight during the summer. They may have encountered polar bears, snowy owls and lemmings before setting off to cross oceans, glaciers and volcanoes to reach our shores.
Some of these travellers may even turn up in your garden. Redwings from Iceland and Scandinavia and fieldfares from Scandinavia and Russia are here to feast on berries. During last winter’s ‘Beast from the East’, many of these birds, which are in the thrush family, were seen on lawns and bird tables after food supplies in the countryside ran out.
Our lakes, marshes and wet grasslands really come to life…
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