Birdwatch news team
Posted on: 26 Oct 2012
Appalling weather around the coast of England
has created terrible conditions for migrating birds, the RSPB has said today,
with fishermen reporting to the society that numbers of exhausted and
disoriented birds have been seen falling into the sea around their vessels.
A combination of heavy fog and winds has brought huge numbers of birds to England’s east coast from Northumberland to Kent, with birders using Twitter to report their sightings. Spurn Bird Observatory tweeted on 22 October: “Conservative totals of 10,000 Fieldfare, 57 Ring Ouzel, 900 Song Thrush, 700 Robin, 21,000 Redwing. Also 2,700 Brambling, 1200 Blackbird, 800 Goldcrest, 20 Black Redstart etc etc.”
Another site to experience a fall of stranded migrant birds is Bempton Cliffs RSPB in North Yorkshire. Reserves Manager Ian Kendall said: “There are birds in their thousands, on the cliffs, in the surrounding fields, hedgerows and along the length of the Yorkshire coast.
“The birds left Scandinavia in glorious sunshine but as they crossed the North Sea, they flew into fog and rain, so they stopped off at the first bit of land they have come across. The place has been dripping with birds.”
The RSPB believes these birds may be the lucky survivors which have managed to cross the North Sea, but concedes that many others may have perished before making landfall.
One professional boat skipper told the society: “While fishing about 10 miles south of Portsmouth, we witnessed thousands of garden birds disorientated, land on the sea and most drowning. Species included Goldcrest, Robin, thrushes and Blackbird. The sky was thick with garden birds. I estimate I saw 500 birds die and that was just in our 300-yard sphere. On the way home we just saw dead songbirds in the water; it was a harrowing sight.”
Those exhausted birds which have made it to Britain will be looking for food and may be visiting gardens, especially as the weather is expected to turn, with the first icy blasts of winter expected.
Ian Hayward is an adviser with the RSPB’s wildlife enquiries team. He said: “The first cold snap will encourage many birds to visit gardens in a quest for food. Now is the time to start topping up bird tables and feeders. These birds need all the help they can get, so gardeners and farmers can also help birds by not cutting hedgerows laden with much-needed berries.”
A combination of heavy fog and winds has brought huge numbers of birds to England’s east coast from Northumberland to Kent, with birders using Twitter to report their sightings. Spurn Bird Observatory tweeted on 22 October: “Conservative totals of 10,000 Fieldfare, 57 Ring Ouzel, 900 Song Thrush, 700 Robin, 21,000 Redwing. Also 2,700 Brambling, 1200 Blackbird, 800 Goldcrest, 20 Black Redstart etc etc.”
Another site to experience a fall of stranded migrant birds is Bempton Cliffs RSPB in North Yorkshire. Reserves Manager Ian Kendall said: “There are birds in their thousands, on the cliffs, in the surrounding fields, hedgerows and along the length of the Yorkshire coast.
“The birds left Scandinavia in glorious sunshine but as they crossed the North Sea, they flew into fog and rain, so they stopped off at the first bit of land they have come across. The place has been dripping with birds.”
The RSPB believes these birds may be the lucky survivors which have managed to cross the North Sea, but concedes that many others may have perished before making landfall.
One professional boat skipper told the society: “While fishing about 10 miles south of Portsmouth, we witnessed thousands of garden birds disorientated, land on the sea and most drowning. Species included Goldcrest, Robin, thrushes and Blackbird. The sky was thick with garden birds. I estimate I saw 500 birds die and that was just in our 300-yard sphere. On the way home we just saw dead songbirds in the water; it was a harrowing sight.”
Those exhausted birds which have made it to Britain will be looking for food and may be visiting gardens, especially as the weather is expected to turn, with the first icy blasts of winter expected.
Ian Hayward is an adviser with the RSPB’s wildlife enquiries team. He said: “The first cold snap will encourage many birds to visit gardens in a quest for food. Now is the time to start topping up bird tables and feeders. These birds need all the help they can get, so gardeners and farmers can also help birds by not cutting hedgerows laden with much-needed berries.”
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