Bird Watching

Moving into late spring, bird watching dominated my outdoor time. Pairing complete, nests were prepared for the coming broods.

Wren

Small, secretive, and with a loud voice, the wren is the most common breeding bird in the UK. There are currently over 8.6 million wren breeding territories, where the birds build their domed nests in bushes and rock crevices.

Wrens have a beautiful song, and a shrill alarm call. Their voice is thought to be the loudest relative to size of any UK bird. They have been recorded reaching a volume up to 90 decibels; the equivalent level of machines such as lawn mowers, hairdryers, and blenders.

The second picture shows a wren gathering moss for its nest. Wrens’ dome shaped nests have a small side entrance and are constructed out of moss, twigs, grass, and leaves. A male bird usually builds between 5 and 12 ‘cock nests’ within his territory. The female chooses her favourite nest, which is generally the one she considers most secure and least likely to be disturbed, and lines it with feathers to complete the build.

Chiffchaff

The chiffchaff looks very similar to the willow warbler, and they can be hard to tell apart. The quickest way to differentiate between the birds is their song, and their flight. A picture of course offers no information on either. Physical differences are few, though the chiffchaff has dark legs to the warbler’s light brown legs. The willow warbler also has a lighter, more uniformly pale, chest and belly area.

By April, the nature reserve is alive with the sound of chiffchaffs, their distinctive onomatopoeic song filling the trees. Some chiffchaffs overwinter in the UK, but most migrate here through March and into April.

Great Crested Grebe

During spring, the great crested grebes are active, displaying their striking breeding plumage. Note the grebe’s red iris which is thought to help them see underwater; particularly important when hunting.

The lakes at the nature reserve are populated with a range of aquatic life, which all plays a part in maintaining the ecosystem balance.

This grebe caught a perch on one of its dives. It manoeuvred the fish in order to swallow it head first, avoiding spines and fins getting stuck in the bird’s throat.

Heron

In their usual nesting spot, and with the build complete, the herons welcomed a single chick this year. Previous years have seen two or three young and there are a number of reasons why there might only have been one this year:
– As the herons begin incubating eggs before the full clutch (of 3-5) is laid, the older eggs hatch first. This means the first born chick can have a significant size and strength advantage over later siblings, sometimes leading to the younger sibling(s) starving, or being forced from the nest by the older chick(s).
– The young might be predated (by owls, for example), or fall from the nest.
– Food shortages can lead to weaker/younger chicks starving.
– First time parents may lose chicks because they lack experience in foraging efficiently, and/or protecting the nest.

The parent birds were kept busy feeding their chick throughout spring. Adult birds are known to collect as much as four times more food than usual when they feeding their young. Chicks usually feed 3-4 times a day. Herons hunt throughout the day, and even into the night, when searching for food for their young. While the young remain in the nest, the parents spend up to 90% of their waking hours searching for food.

Young herons begin testing their wings at around 6-8 weeks old, and are ready to fledge by about 8-10 weeks. Even after leaving the nest, they tend to remain in the area a while and may return to the nest to rest or for food for several weeks after leaving.

Bird Watching

Raised within a family with a long-standing interest in and connection to nature, a love of birdwatching was always going to be part of my DNA.

Earlier this year, results of a multiyear study of more than 24,000 people found that birdwatching is the second fastest growing hobby for Generation Z (people born between 1997 and 2012) after jewellery making. Almost 750,000 of Generation Z in Britain reported that they regularly enjoy bird watching. This is a 1,088% increase since 2018, according to the research which was undertaken by Fifty5Blue for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

More generally, regular birdwatching has shown a 47% increase across all generations over the past eight years. As well as creating a positive connection between people and nature, a study undertaken by researchers in Canada shows bird-watching may be linked to protection against age related brain function decline.

Connecting with nature is part of human genetics. There’s a term for this: the biophilia hypothesis. This says that humans contain an innate, genetically driven urge to connect with nature and all other living things. So whether for being outside, mental health, or pure enjoyment, bird watching has much to recommend it.