Flight Path

                                                                          Photo by Jo Sinclair

Absent-mindedly observing moths and gnats smothering a lit window gave me another reason to celebrate spring. According to doom-laden articles there's been a fatal lack of insects. I hadn't seen a ladybird this year until the weather changed. It was tucked away in the fork of a blackcurrant bush in my garden, and a comma butterfly chose the newly-planted redcurrant alongside. There were whirligig mercury drops, skinny pond skaters and water boatmen on my walk, and a bead with a metallic carapace striped purple and emerald was floating in my garden pond. I looked it up. My first garden pest of the year and an invasive species from warmer climes: a rosemary beetle, partial to sage... rosemary and thyme. Hopefully it won't touch the parsely.

Forgetting the slimy mollusc armies I did battle with last summer I was honestly charmed to see snails out and about.

With the insects this week came a surge of birds. New arrivals received a heroes' welcome. Birds followed insects. Birders followed birds. I followed birder bulletins. And one by one I watched each species turn up like a smooth-running timetable at Heathrow. The swallows I saw over the industrial estate on 14 April got a private salute from me for doing battle with global warming. The nation might have been dancing for joy but for the dancing that went on while a certain former prime minister was on her way to the grave.

15 April: six wheatears. One species of thrush had traded places with two others; the redwings and fieldfares that had hung on so long at last evacuated the departure lounge. But the lovely African wheatear (see windswept photo, below) is only a passage migrant. Touch-down was just for one day. There were yellow wagtails too. Last year two pairs were breeding locally in sugar-beet which seemed to suit them, but the crops around here this year seem to be potatoes and wall-to-wall wheat.

17 April: singing blackcaps and willow warblers.

18 April: sedge warbler

Imagine you've flown thousands of miles and you're looking forward to resting at your annual watering hole. You're greeted by cheers, but it's not a heroe's welcome. It's the stadium roar of football supporters. The industrial estate where the swallows nest borders land degraded with industrial waste. Mature woodland offers the sanctuary of bird and bat roosts. Scrub is abundant with bugs. A plot has been  staked out here for a a football stadium. On the day of the local consultation on the issue I sneaked off and had a look. An aeroplane overhead seemed to be doing circuits - maybe Stanstead was 'stacking them up'. It reminded me of the one and only time I have been to a premier league football match. I had eyes only for a bat that flew in confused circles. How could a bat echo-locate a noise like that?

Wildlife Action Groups have their eyes on the issue of planning developments and bird migration. I came across these fascinating articles about how birds use regular flight paths on their spring and autumn journeys. Skyscrapers and wind turbines are lethal obstructions, but new legislation encourages warning-system solutions to the birds.
New York Times

                                        Photo by Jo Sinclair