Where indeed. I don't know about you, but the skies are empty of incoming migrants ..... OK, I've seen a few Swallows, there's plenty of chiffchaffs, but ,for example, I went to a sure-thing Wheatear spotting site ,and there were ... NONE! . Then I went to Grumbling Stumps ... a measly 2 Swallows, no House Martins, no no Sand Martins ...... SO ... what has happened ? The usual culprit is "problems on the way" .... it is a massive journey through Africa, over the Mediterranean, and then through Spain etc ... and then the Channel. This morning I've been watching from 6:30 am ( and now it is 10 am .... and I've seen almost nowt. So .... I've looked up the usual arrival dates in my local bird report, and here's some of the earliest and average arrival times .... EARLIEST MEAN SWALLOW 5/3 22/3 H. MARTIN 17/3 17/3 W.WARBLER 23/3 28/3 OSPREY 4/3 22/3 SWIFT 1/4 16/4 WHEATEAR 26/2 10/3 SAND M. 24/2 10/3 REED WARBLER 5/4 13/4 SEDGE WARBLER 27/3 11/4 GARDEN WARBLER 6/4 19/4 LESSER THROAT 2/4 18/4 WHITETHROAT 2/4 15/4 COMMON TERN 30/3 12/4 PIED FLY 7/4 16/4 YELLOW WAG 24/3 10/4 CUCKOO 23/3 16/4 DOTTEREL 29/3 21/4 WHIMBREL 11/3 7/4 You will probably have already found that your "arrivals" are a lot later than usual. And I'm going to have my "half-past-tenses" and then venture out into a startlingly bitter-cold morning. The music looms ....
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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