Nature on your doorstep in April

THIS MONTH’S CHALLENGE: Along with posting more observations, it’s such an amazing month for birds that the challenge has to be to see which birds you can spot. What’s more, you can use birdsong on iNaturalist to make research-grade observations. It’s easy - where you normally click to add a photo, there’s an option to ‘Record Sound’. As an alternative, if you ever use the wonderful Merlin Bird ID app to identify birds, you can share audio files from Merlin to iNaturalist.

THIS MONTH'S TIP:
Caring for garden birds: this tip comes via our own Tom of Gipton Woods, from the RSPB, which has just published the results of research into the considerable impact on bird health of garden feeding stations. The RSPB is clear that from 1 May - 31 October, we should pause filling our garden feeders with seeds or peanuts, (but can continue to offer small amounts of mealworms, fat and suet). From 1 November - 30 April, we can feed garden birds a full range of bird foods.
Additionally, we should be cleaning feeders and water baths at least weekly, (and changing the water daily); and all food that we put out should be eaten in one or two days. There’s a lot more information and more recommendations here, along with an encouragement to plant bird-friendly plants like ivy, teasels and sunflowers: https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/how-to-help-garden-birds

FIVE FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT MIGRATING BIRDS
I’m truly fortunate to have two pairs of swifts which have been returning for the past few summers to nest in my swift boxes. They spend the rest of the year in Southern Africa. Here’s some amazing facts about other migratory birds which come to the UK:

The blackbirds you see in the winter may be visitors from Scandinavia; many of our blackbirds are migratory
Swifts migrate 14,000+ miles annually from Africa to the UK, and spend almost their entire lives airborne - eating, sleeping and mating on the wing.
The Garden Warbler, which weighs about 20g, flies over the Sahara to West Africa each year. When crossing the Sahara, they fly at night and rest during the day in any shade they can find.
Nearly 17 million birds pass through the UK during their migration, either passing through or staying for the winter or the summer months.
Birds navigate using a range of techniques - they use physical landmarks like rivers, the sun, stars and the Earth’s magnetic field, and their sense of smell.

Information from the RSPB through this page and its links: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-migration

THIS MONTH'S LINK is to:
This month’s link is to a new UK citizen science project about birds, hosted by the British Trust for Ornithology : https://www.bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/greenspaces It aims to find out how important urban greenspaces are for UK birds, and to provide guidance on effective greenspace management for birds and people. Anyone can take part if you can get to a local greenspace and there’s lots of tools and resources to help you.

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