Month: April 2020

This week’s summary of summer visitors arriving in the county.

Five more spring migrants have arrived during the past seven days. This week’s quintet includes two species which, arguably, are not 100% summer visitors, as both Whimbrel and Spotted Redshank winter regularly in the UK. However, unlike Chiffchaff and Blackcap, for example, their wintering populations are tiny by comparison, with totals of perhaps only 20-30 Whimbrels and 90-100 Spotted Redshanks found principally, although not exclusively, in south coast locations (BTO, RSPB.1, RSPB.2). The arrival dates for these two species are unremarkable, the date for Whimbrel being fairly typical (19th April 2018, 17th April 2019), while Spotted Redshanks are rarer in spring than autumn and often they don’t appear before July.

Arctic Tern this year arrived nine days later than in both 2018 and 2019 and while not being unduly late, Black Terns arrived eleven days later than the earliest ever (7th April in 2019) and one day earlier than in 2018.

The first Common Swift this year, while being a shade on the early side (22nd April in 2018, 25th April in 2019) would have to go a long way, by being a full fifteen days earlier, to beat the earliest ever, on 5th April 1985.

With still more to come, an expanded list of general migrant arrival and departure dates, including historical extremes, can be found in the annually published Northamptonshire Bird Report.

Avian images used in map pins courtesy of RSPB

Six of the best – and another record-breaker in this week’s look at summer visitors arriving in the county.

Following last week’s review of this year’s summer visitor arrival dates so far, another six are now in, including the earliest-ever Lesser Whitethroat on 10th April. This species appears to have enjoyed a fairly consistent run of early arrival dates in recent years, with the previous earliest on 12th April in 1981, 2014, 2016 and 2017. Last year’s first was found on 17th April – a full week later than this year’s.

Coming close, in second place, is Whinchat on 16th April, which is only one day behind the previous earliest in 1984 and 2015. Beyond this, the Nightingale is four days earlier than last year’s, the Reed Warbler was found on the same date as last year’s first and the Hobby is six days earlier than the first one to be seen last year but probably more in line with the ‘average’ arrival date for this species.

This leaves Tree Pipit. It’s a difficult one to draw comparisons in arrival dates between this year and previous years because of the population decline it has undergone, especially in central and southern England, over the past twenty-five years. Red-listed in the UK as a species of critical concern, in our county it is now a scarce passage migrant. In 2012, for the first time ever, there were no spring records.

More to come. As always, an expanded list of general migrant arrival and departure dates, including historical extremes, is published annually in the Northamptonshire Bird Report.

Avian images used in map pins courtesy of RSPB

The first twenty are in! But how do this year’s arrival dates compare with those of previous years?

A review of how spring is progressing, in terms of the arrival of summer visitors, covers the five weeks up to 9th April. Two species, Blackcap and Chiffchaff, are excluded as both have significant wintering populations that cloud the arrival dates of those wintering outside of the UK.

This year, one species sets a new record for the earliest ever arrival date. The Garden Warbler at Boddington Reservoir on 7th beats the previous earliest, which was in 2010, by three days. This year’s Common Whitethroat and Willow Warbler are relatively early for the county, being only three days and seven days later than the earliest, in 1998 and 1997, respectively. No other species produced noteworthy arrival dates, especially when population dynamics are taken into consideration.

With another fifteen species to arrive over the next five weeks or so it will be interesting to see if they are on time, early, or late. An expanded list of general migrant arrival and departure dates, including historical extremes, is published annually in the Northamptonshire Bird Report.

Avian images used in map pins courtesy of RSPB