Keeping a watch
It’s been a long winter, but signs of spring are definitely on the horizon. Swallows have already been spotted on the Exe estuary, and Cornwall has records of house martins, and sand martins too, by the time this article goes to print, I’m sure Devon will have caught up.
I found myself early for a meeting in Exmouth last week, and spent a very pleasant while in Manor Gardens watching the signs of spring there. I’m sure that horticulturally the indicators were everywhere, but I have to confess I am all thumbs (and none of them particularly green) when it comes to gardening. So I was instead focussing on what the birds were doing to provide me with hints that summer is round the corner.
A couple of yeas ago the District Council installed bird and bat boxes in the park and these were being prospected by the resident blue ***. While erecting bird boxes in a mature woodland is a little unnecessary, what with there being so many natural nesting opportunities available, in the manicured perfection of a formal park such boxes offer a welcome roosting space for woodland birds.
Robins were scuffing around the mulch beneath the roses, searching for worms and other grubs, while up in the trees a male blackcap was a welcome sight, even if he didn’t treat the park visitors to a burst of his tuneful song. In one corner of the park someone has been putting out a handful of corn, which is proving very popular with one particularly scruffy robin. With body feathers sticking out at all angles, he was quite a sight, but he made up for his messiness with the most beautiful song, delivered with exceptional gusto from few feet away in a small bush.
One of the definite benefits of watching birds in these human surroundings, is that often the birds are more at ease with human presence and you can get a lot closer to them without disturbing them. As I said, I was on my way to a meeting and so didn’t have the ubiquitous pair of binoculars slung round my neck, and still I got great views! This little robin belted out his flute-like trill claiming ownership of his patch of food, it was a really uplifting spectacle on a cold February afternoon.
There’s a bird I would like us all to look out for this spring, as I am rather worried that it might not return to our town to breed. For the first few years working as the District Council’s Education Ranger I was able to enthuse at length about skylarks breeding on the Maer, but in the last two years I have not seen a skylark back in the long grass or on the sand dunes, previously their two favourite haunts.
The skylark is a bird that has suffered a dramatic decline in recent years. From what was once a very common sight, they are now restricted to uplands and unimproved agricultural areas in ever decreasing numbers.
Their characteristic call is sometimes the first clue you get to their presence. A supa-melodic series of rolling notes, seemingly coming from very far away and everywhere simultaneously. The song continues unbroken for long periods of time, as the larks call while falling gently through the air. This parachute display is a joy to behold, and would be a great shame if Exmouth no longer boasted this superb resident within its town centre.
They sing to claim a territory as their own, but have a very clever way of eluding predators. With such an overt display flight, it would be easy for an intelligent predator, such as a crow, to learn to watch the larks and follow them to their nest site, often found deep in amongst the grasses. But as the skylarks approach the ground on their seemingly vertical drop, they will veer off at the very last minute and scoot horizontally for some distance before dropping into the grass. They will then continue to scurry, like a little winged mouse, along the ground sometimes ending up at a nest some considerable distance from where they apparently landed.
So, if you are walking your dog, or just yourself, on the Maer this spring, watch out and listen out for skylarks, and if you do see one, please get in touch with me, either at the District Council, or through the paper. I can’t offer a financial reward for seeing one, but I promise that if you get the chance to hear one sing, this will definitely be reward enough!