Over the weekend, our first swallow was recorded for the year at the Great Fen. Wheatears are running along the tracks, but they won’t be staying, they are just passing through. If you listen out, amongst the bushes and trees you may hear blackcaps, chiffchaffs and willow warblers, as they are now singing; the results of migration are there to see and hear.
April sightings
Two barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) perching on a fallen tree at an arable farm in Hertfordshire. May 2011. - Chris Gomersall/2020VISION
Many species of bird are using the southerly winds to aid their migration to us this spring. In recent days, blackcaps, chiffchaffs, and willow warblers, have all been heard in the Great Fen; now we have our first swallow.
Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla in song Rutland Water spring - David Tipling/2020VISION
Male wheatear by Russell Savory
April is an exciting month, with many birds arriving from Africa to breed here. Now is the time to look and listen for more visitors, such as yellow wagtails, various warblers and later in the month, cuckoos.
WildNet - Jim Higham
Our resident corn buntings are singing along the Last of the Meres Trail, using the trail way-marker posts and overhead powerlines. Also enjoy the sight of the many flowers of cowslips, bursting forth on the Northern Loop Trail, with skylarks singing overhead.
Cowslips on the Northern Loop, 27 March 2023, by Henry Stanier
So keep your eyes and ears open, please keep to the marked trails with your dog on a lead, and send us your sightings, especially cuckoos!
Henry Stanier (Great Fen Monitoring & Research Officer)