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Friends of Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve
Birds migrate to find the best ecological conditions and habitats for feeding, breeding and raising their young. When conditions become unfavourable, it is time to fly to regions where conditions are better.
Most birds in colder northern countries migrate south to escape harsh winters. In temperate regions, such as the UK, about half the species migrate. For example birds that eat insects will not be able to find enough food here in winter so they fly south. While tropical birds have less need to migrate as they have a more constant food supply and conditions.
When do birds migrate?
Migratory birds generally migrate twice a year, once in autumn and again in spring. In autumn they will be flying to find a good place to spend the winter and in spring a favourable region to nest and raise their young.
PS the photo is of hundreds of winter dunlin by Portbury Wharf salt marsh.
DID YOU KNOW?
At least 4,000 species of birds migrate, that is about 40 per cent of all the world’s birds. Bird migration is a perilous business as they often have to fly hundreds or even thousands of miles.
The birds that are winging their way to Portbury Wharf in this autumn migration will be escaping the frozen north. Our winters are balmy in comparison to Iceland, Siberia and other northern latitudes!
Tomorrow, Saturday 10 October, is World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD). So this month, in celebration, we will be posting lots of stuff about migration and Portbury Wharf 's winter birds. If you have any interesting bird migration snippets you want to share please join in.
PS this photo is of a fling of dunlin. They are like shoreline starlings flocking at the tide's edge in mesmerising formations.
Portbury Wharf is a great place to visit and it is not just us human visitors that think so! It is a popular destination for our endangered winter birds too.
The autumn bird migration is one of nature's miracles. A time when shoreline birds, thrushes and more fly incredible distances across oceans and continents to escape harsh arctic winters. Some of these new arrivals will stay on the estuary edge and salt marsh as there is lots of food there. Others will prefer the pools and hedgerows on the nature reserve.
To make it through the winter they will need to feed and rest undisturbed. So we can all help by giving them plenty of space. So if we, and our dogs, keep to the main paths and don't walk across the salt marsh, they will have the best chance of survival.
This guy is a fairly regular visitor to the Reserve but i dont normally get the chance to video him at such close quarters.https://youtu.be/pHBAqWOf6y0
Well more of our wintering friends are returning and today a snipe was making his presence felt on the south pool
Join the call for a better future!
Sign the petition to #ReviveOurWorld
e-activist.com
Nature is in crisis and we need Government action. I’ve signed the petition for legally-binding targets to #ReviveOurWorld. Will you? Sign and Share... e-activist.com/page/67273/data/1?ea.tracking.id=facebook-sharenice to see some old friends back - 3 shovellers still in the summer plumage and 4 gadwall mid moult from summer to winter coats. Both on the south pool
they are like buses - get one sandpiper and more appear. There were 2 green sandpipers on the south pool yesterday and they flew up to the North where they joined 3 common sandpipers. This video is of the green
Portbury Wharf’s Mammals
Portbury Wharf’s mammals include water voles and roe deer. We have others of course.
Foxes, badgers and a variety of smaller creatures such as field mice, voles and shrews are on the reserve. But here we are focusing on the increasingly rare water vole and the not so rare roe deer. In fact the roe deer, perhaps the most charming of our native deer, are quite numerous so you are actually more likely to see roe deer than foxes or badgers.
Water Vole
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Roe Deer
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Roe Deer Antlers
Roe deer antlers regrow each year Only the male roe deer have antlers. Each year, in late autumn they shed their antlers and grow new ones. It doesn’t take long, after casting off the old ones, before these… Read More
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Keeping water voles safe
Keeping water voles safe at Portbury Wharf is very important. So the warden and his Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve Volunteers have been busy repairing the hurdles alongside the rhynes. You may have noticed them along Water Vole Lane,… Read More
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