Francis Hickenbottom’s Nature Notes.
10th November 2011
Natural historians like to study all types of living things but, when it comes to animals, it is hard to avoid paying a lot of attention to birds because of the large number of species to be seen.
For example, at Ackworth School I have listed sixty species which have, at some time during the past twenty years, been seen, by me, using the school grounds. In addition, a number of other species use the agricultural land around the school and others can be seen flying over.
There are many species which use the grounds all of the time and, in contrast, there are ones, such as the redstart, which I have seen only a couple of times in twenty years. I’ve never been very keen on travelling around the country looking for examples of foreign species which have been blown off course and which could be doomed. Instead, I prefer to watch the progress of the residents, to take note of the population changes and to record the arrival and departure of the species which mark the changing seasons.
Redwings mark the start of Autumn for me when they arrive in October. At Ackworth, redwings have been flying over, in small groups, often of only two or three birds, for over a month. There were a few fieldfares with them when they first arrived but I have not heard any since then. This should change as soon as the wind direction swings around to make it easier for them to travel down from Scandinavia.
Two other species which visit Ackworth every winter are siskins and grey wagtails.
Grey wagtails are usually to be seen where there is clean, fast-
Then, today, I was on my lunchtime duty ‘stroll’ when two small birds flew from a tall tree and I heard the distinctive calls of siskins. The siskins were in an area in which italian alder were planted by students about twenty years ago and these trees may provide seeds for feeding siskins.
Cotoneasters in the grounds are loaded with berries. These are ready for the arrival of the fieldfares and it will be interesting to see whether they provide food for waxwings again this year.
Two days ago, I was just setting out on my early-