Free Nightingales in November by Mike Dilger Page A

navigation and a westerly wind to help push them in the right direction. When the precise moment for departure comes, it is usually preceded by the birds becoming incredibly vocal, with a huge amount of head bobbing. Only when the noise level and degree of synchronised head bobbing reaches fever pitch will the flock rise from the roost, before spirallinginto the air to quite a height, in order to gain their bearings, as they head off for the continent.

    In a good Waxwing year, the number of birds in Britain by now may well have declined from the peak seen at the turn of the year. However, late February may well still see these gentle marauders dispersed far and wide as they track down the few remaining supplies not already mopped up by the resident Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Mistle Thrushes or the combined total of around 1.5 million Redwings and Fieldfares also visiting Britain for the winter. Even in a year when relatively few Waxwings cross the North Sea, the east coast at this time will almost certainly see a smattering of flocks visiting any garden with berries going to spare. Always approachable, probably due to the lack of human interference on their breeding grounds, the Waxwings will still be in no hurry to leave.

    Out of our four summer visitors, the only species that has seemingly not even entertained thoughts of leaving come the end of this month is the Nightingale. Recent data collected from the BTO’s research work suggests that the birds will not leave until mid-March. But by feeding well in West Africa, once the Nightingales finally do decide to leave, the first leg will see them power to southern Europe with all possible haste.

March
    Even if the weather conditions seem to say otherwise, higher daily temperatures and a few precious minutes of daylight clawed back with each passing day can only mean spring has most definitely sprung by March. As a yellow army of Daffodils, Primroses and Lesser Celandines begin to appear and overwintering butterflies and queen bumblebees tentatively emerge, many of our winter visitors will take the improving conditions here as their cue to desert our shores for long, arduous journeys to far-flung locations. The noisy and extensive dawn chorus here in March, however, is ample demonstration that this month has already become a hectic time for our resident British birds. For any individuals that successfully negotiated the winter, their reward will have already come as they find themselves either on or close to their breeding grounds, putting them in pole position to race ahead in the mating game. However with most summermigrants well on their way, the resident birds will be only too aware that they won’t have our gardens, woodlands, farmland, scrub and wetlands all to themselves for long! Despite many of our summer visitors still being thousands of kilometres from Britain, the traditional advance party of Wheatears, Sand Martins and Chiffchaffs will have already begun to arrive at many southern migration watchpoints during this month. In fact, this initial trickle will soon turn into a ranging torrent as millions of birds head towards Britain to take advantage of our green and pleasant lands.
    Early March

    The first of our chosen twelve to kick-start the egg-laying season will be the Tawny Owls. Being a cavity-nesting bird, the female Tawny doesn’t need to produce a camouflaged clutch, and so her rather round eggs are white and unmarked. Before laying each egg the female tends to become distracted, and using her bill to grasp on to the walls of the nesting chamber, the egg will often be delivered while standing up. Tawny Owl expert Dave Culley has spent many sleepless nights waiting for his wild Tawnies to produce their clutch, and reckons the female will lay an egg every 56 to 64 hours, with sometimes a delay of up to four days before the final egg is produced. Clutch sizes can vary, but two or three is considered the norm, with some pairs capable of producing four or