Here comes the sun
Spring is holding its breath – just waiting for the first frost-free night or warm rains before everything explodes into greenery. Usually by now there have been daffodils for a month, the crocuses are nearly done and the tulips are opening. Not yet.
But the season is already well underway along the Lagan, when you know what to look and listen out for. Hedgerows may still be bare and twiggy, but the days are long and the sun is beaming out of a very unNorthern Irish vivid blue sky. And that’s the key, because daylight, not temperature, is the trigger for birds to get ready for the breeding season ahead. The recent sunny clear weather has given them an extra helping of light.
It’s impossible not to notice just how much more vocal the birds have been for the past fortnight or so.
The increased hours of sunlight actually triggers hormones that get birds thinking about pairing up and looking for nest sites. Not unlike humans, who suddenly take an interest in househunting once the days are brighter. Or consider the flocks of singles flying off to sun-drenched beaches in search of holiday romance.
Bluetits bond over dinner for two
But if you think our biological clocks are demanding….! Birds have to successfully find a mate, a nest, breed, raise their young to adulthood and possibly even migrate – all the major life changes - in a single summer. Now that’s a deadline. Reproduce and fledge by August or risk not surviving!
At this early stage in the season, those birds in the Park which are moving into spring mode are mostly focusing on pairing off and seeking out nest sites. Birds will not actually breed and lay eggs until they are reasonably confident there will be an adequate food supply come the end of the incubation period. Newly hatched young generally feed on insects.
Crows have been spotted carrying building materials while the bluetits are taking great interest in the nest boxes near the Park’s offices. The moorhens are already engaged in courtship displays and the mallards too. Male mallards will mob a female in the water and in flight. Soon other birds in the Park will get busy too, as March marks the turning point.
Pearly dawn
Daylight is also the signal for visiting birds from Siberia and Scandinavia to sling their hooks. So if they have not already decamped, the waxwings and redwings are getting ready to leave.
Right now is a great time for non-early birds to catch the dawn chorus. The crack of dawn comes at a reasonably civilised 6.30 or thereabouts. Head to the towpath around 8 to 8.30am and you can enjoy a pre-work performance that will set you up nicely for the whole day.
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY LAGAN VALLEY REGIONAL PARK