Birdwatch's team blog

Here comes summer

A week ago I was birding in Ireland with Chris Harbard and Roy Beddard and, unsurprisingly enough on the Atlantic coast of the Emerald Isle at this time of year, it felt like winter. Strong winds, rain, seaduck, divers (including Pacific – yes!) and wild swans all evoked a feeling that summer was still a long way off.

And yet, within four days of arriving home, I was standing among a forlorn crowd of birders in east London hoping – in vain – for an Alpine Swift to make a reappearance. That day I’d already found my first Northern Wheatear (sorry Steve!) of the year at my regular stomping ground of Rainham Marshes, and now the pager was beeping incessantly with news of rare swifts, flocks of wheatears, Little Ringed Plovers, Garganey and Ospreys as the first big surge of summer migrants hit southern England. A lot can change in just a few days.

All of this is very timely practical revision, as here in the office we’re currently working on a new style of bird-finding itinerary which, in its first appearance in the May issue, will focus on finding all the regular summer visitors to Britain. We’ve managed to condense this feat into just five sites, albeit fairly widely scattered ones, so I’ve already got a fair idea of what I’ll be doing on most weekends come May. Anyone else out there starting to get their first returning summer birds?

Dominic Mitchell
Managing Editor

Posted by Birdwatch