As winter’s grip loosens and we begin to enjoy the glorious sights and sounds of spring, the Solent coastline transforms into a vital crossroads for migratory birds.
While many of our coastal birds prepare to head to more northerly breeding grounds, thousands arrive to breed on our shores from southern Europe and Africa. Others, like whimbrels and yellow wagtails, are ‘passage’ migrants and pass through on their way to more distant destinations.
A time of restlessness
When daylight hours get longer, migratory birds begin to grow restlessness as they instinctively prepare for the start of their epic journeys. For some coastal birds, like the Solent’s dark-bellied brent geese, that means flying thousands of miles to remote Arctic locations.
Dark-bellied brent geese need to prepare for long migratory journeys
To power this incredible endurance feat, they’ll need to stockpile large reserves of fat before setting off. Their flight muscles go through crucial changes: not through extra flying to build up their strength; they just head off one day, fully prepared.
To help gain the fat reserves they need, birds need to dramatically increase their food intake. So at this time of year, it’s particularly important to give birds the space they need to feed without being disturbed.
They’re also said to lower their core body temperature to conserve energy – a bit like turning down the thermostat in your home to save on heating costs.
Heading north
Each migratory bird has its own destination and purpose.
Dark-belling brent geese will be preparing for their long return journeys to the Tamyr Penninsular, about 3,000 miles away in Arctic Siberia, while black-tailed godwits will reunite with their mates in Iceland, arriving back within days of each other after spending the colder months hundreds of miles apart.
Black-tailed godwits reunite with their mates in Iceland
Bold little turnstones, who we see upending pebbles and seaweed along our beaches in the winter, will head back to Greenland, Canada and Lapland, and scampering snow-white sanderlings will be developing their darker breeding plumage and getting ready for the long journey back to Greenland and Arctic Siberia.
Turnstones head to Greenland, Canada and Lapland,
Sanderling head to Greenland and Arctic Siberia
Arrivals: visitors from afar
While some birds depart, others arrive. They will have travelled vast distances from their wintering grounds in Africa and southern Europe to breed on our shores.
Spring heralds the arrival of terns from their over-wintering grounds in West Africa and southern Europe. Living up to its name, the little tern is the UK’s smallest tern. They have a black-tipped yellow bill, and a distinctive white brow: you might spot them nesting on shingle or gravelly beaches along our shoreline from April to August.
Like other terns and ground nesting birds, they’re very vulnerable to being disturbed when we visit the coast, so it’s important to keep a careful watch for them and to follow requests on signs and protective fencing which help keep them safe.
Swallows, swifts and cuckoos
Other summer visitors include swallows, arriving in the UK in late March or early April, swifts arriving in May and leave early in August, and, fabled herald of spring, cuckoos which arrive towards the end of April or of the beginning of May.
Cuckoos spend very little time in the UK: more than half head back south as early as June, having handed over childcare responsibilities to duped foster parents. A study by the British Trust for Ornithology, shows that only 15% of cuckoos’ time is spent in the UK: 47% is spent in the African Congo while 38% is spent travelling between the two.
Swallows arrive from March
Swifts arrive from May
Cuckoos only stay for a couple of months in the early summer
Stopovers: a brief respite
Then there are those birds that use our coasts as a vital stopover point. These include species like whimbrels, a smaller version of the more familiar curlew, that will have spent the winter in southern Spain and Africa.
Whimbrels will be en route to more northerly breeding grounds which stretch from the far north of Scotland, to Greenland and Siberia. Their brief stay is a crucial part of their migration, allowing them to gather the strength needed for the next leg of their journey. You might spot them using their down-curved bill to probe the mudflats for invertebrates to replenish their energy reserves.
Whimbrels stop on the Solent en route from further destinations
Thanks for looking out for all our coastal birds, whether they’re getting ready to head off, arriving after perilous journeys in need of rest and recouperation, or using our coastline as an invaluable pit-stop. By giving them the space they need to feed, rest and breed without being disturbed, we’ll help them thrive for generations to come.
