Summer, winter, passage and partial migrants
Summer visitorsSummer visitors are birds that arrive in spring from the south to breed. Many are insect eaters. They spend summer here, then they – and their new young – return south in autumn.They include swallows and martins, warblers, flycatchers, wheatears, whinchats, redstarts, nightingales, yellow wagtails, tree pipits, cuckoos, swifts, nightjars, turtle doves, hobbys, ospreys, terns and manx shearwaters. Many other seabirds, such as puffins and gannets, also arrive on our shores in spring after spending the winter at sea. Winter visitorsWinter visitors are birds that arrive in autumn from the north and east to spend the winter in the UK, where the weather is milder and food is easier to find. In spring, they return to their breeding quarters.They include fieldfares, redwings, bramblings, Bewick’s and whooper swans and many kinds of ducks, geese and wading birds. Many water birds also spend the winter on the sea around the UK coast, including common scoters, great northern divers and red-necked grebes. Passage migrantsPassage migrants are birds that stop off in the UK during their long journey north or south, such as green sandpipers and black terns. They use the UK like a service station, taking a few weeks during spring and autumn to refuel and rest before moving on.Some species, such as dunlins, behave differently according to where they come from. The smaller dunlins that breed in Greenland and Iceland are passage migrants – stopping off with us on their way to West Africa. The larger dunlins that breed in Russia and northern Scandinavia stay with us for the whole winter. Partial migrantsPartial migrants are birds that migrate in some places, but not in others. For instance, most starlings that breed in the UKBritain stay put for the winter. But starlings that breed in Eastern Europe, where winter is much colder, migrate to Britain the UK in winter. The same goes for chaffinches, robins, lapwings, coots and many other common birds.Partial migration depends upon the weather, so it is never the same from one year to the next. Birds that hardly move at all in Britain the UK may migrate in huge numbers elsewhere. In Estonia, one birdwatcher counted 7,300 siskins, 6,200 great tits, 5,600 woodpigeons, 3,400 jays, 780 coal tits and 460 blue tits migrating in a single day! |
