Autumn takes flight

"We could dream this night away..."

It’s been a magical start to autumn round these parts. Or maybe it’s like this every year and I’ve been oblivious. It’s easy to miss the seasons changing in London. All the usual clichés spring to mind but what excites me most about autumn this year is that it means the birds are busy again!

For an urban dweller summer is generally a quiet time for birds. The cup final atmosphere that is present among the branches of woods, parks and gardens in late-spring is long gone; the hopeful songs and endless chatter giving way to a period of rest that allows birds to renew energy stocks and hone vital skills in preparation for a long winter or a long flight. It was great therefore to hear numerous robins singing boisterously in my local park yesterday, along with noisy flocks of tits (Blue, Great and Long-tailed) probing the Plane trees for seeds. Mistle Thrushes have appeared again too, ready to do battle over berries, their heads and bold, spotted breasts visible from the tops of tall trees.

As for our visiting migrants, autumn marks a passage for birds heading off to warmer southern climes and overwintering birds arriving from the continent. This increases the chance of finding something a little more unusual in your area. So far a large flock (40+) of House Martins swooping over New Cross the other day has been my only local evidence of the former but it was a pleasing sight nonetheless. Watching their frantic manoeuvres over the rooftops I realised there were probably young birds up there making the trip for the first time.  I enjoyed Jack Robinson’s analogy of a similar encounter in the current issue of Bird Watching magazine, comparing young Swallows preparing to migrate with a nervous child’s first day at school!

As for the latter, in the next few months I’ll be keeping my eye out for arrivals from Scandinavia such as Fieldfare and Redwing. As well as UK resident species such as Lesser Redpoll and Firecrest whose numbers increase in the south during autumn and winter.

*above photo from the BBC website