From treetops to hilltops, signs of spring on Dartmoor

I HEARD my first spring migrant bird yesterday – a chiffchaff, chiff-chaffing away from the top of a tree.

This little warbler with its simple ditty is one of the early birds when it comes to our spring and summer visitors, and the rest should be along shortly – swallows, martins and the like, as I describe in tomorrow’s Western Morning News nature pages.

I have heard reports that swallows are beginning to arrive in small numbers in the Westcountry, so now is time to look skywards for the chance of being among those to spot them first.

Soon the sky will be that bit busier, and the dawn chorus will take on new interest as the additional members of the avian orchestra turn up and join in song.

A real sign of spring for me was chanced across up on west Dartmoor a short jog from my home this week. Golden plover spend the colder months on the high ground – their winter plumage being a pale golden brown, but ahead of the breeding season these birds – closely related to lapwings and similar in shape and size – become far more handsome, having a black front fringed with white.

Sadly they no longer breed on Dartmoor, but they do stop over on their way to upland breeding grounds further north, so there is a chance to see them looking their finest.

A flock of a dozen or so got up in front of me and circled low and at speed in a ragged V-formation, their fly-past taking them back and forth in front of me, turning to show their golden spangled backs and their sooty fronts. Great to see them before they fly off to their breeding grounds.

Only a shame that they no longer find Dartmoor suitable for breeding any longer. Curlew, lapwing and ring ouzel are also down to just a few pairs on the moor.