Local birding tips: April
With coronavirus pandemic guidance still encouraging us to stay local, we offer some tips to help you make the most of your April birding close to home.
What to do and what to look out for close to home this month.
Go for gulls
HAVING a waterbody near you really helps boost the diversity of local birding throughout the year. Spring is no exception, and the first half of April is an especially good time to encounter three of the world’s most beautiful gulls on your patch. Late March and early April is the peak period to be picking up migrant Mediterranean Gulls and Kittiwakes. The former has increased substantially in recent years and high-flying adults can be observed migrating east back to Continental breeding grounds on fine spring days.
Any congregation of gulls is worth scrutinising for grounded birds in the first half of the month – a summer ‘Med’ is a real sight to behold. Kittiwake, meanwhile, has declined significantly and is now a much scarcer prize – especially inland. Nonetheless, adults are best encountered now – check any gathering of Black-headed Gulls, although beware that ‘Kitts’ can be really brief as they take the cross-country route back to the North Sea.
Mid to late April is peak Little Gull time for the inland patcher, and any waterbody can produce in the right weather. Easterly winds, especially when combined with murk, are the key, and birds often turn up in sizeable flocks. Some of the adults will already be in their gorgeous summer livery; enjoy them while you can!
Wandering warblers
APRIL is a good time to look for locally scarce warblers. Most species return to Britain and Ireland during the month and, as many passage birds will sing, detecting them is easier than during the autumn.
What constitutes locally scarce will depend on where you live. In Scotland, Reed Warbler is a rare species indeed and is unlikely to be encountered, but an overshoot towards the end of the month is not impossible. Wood Warbler is a localised western and northern species and is genuinely scarce on passage outside of its range, but April offers perhaps the best time to pick up a migrant (see page 56 for ID tips). Grasshopper Warbler is another species that is increasingly local, and notoriously skulking, so a singing bird represents a good opportunity to connect with one away from breeding grounds.
Beyond these, there are even rarer April candidates. Savi’s Warbler is an extremely rare breeding bird in Britain and will often return from mid-April to favoured reedbed sites in south and east England. Away from these regions and habitat it’s extremely unlikely to be encountered.
Great Reed Warbler is more of a May and June overshoot, but late April records are perfectly possible. Iberian Chiffchaff is being identified with increasing frequency in Britain and April is perhaps the best time to find a singing male, though it remains a national rarity.
Waderfest
NORTHBOUND wader passage really starts to get going as April progresses, and it is now that just about any patcher should be on high alert for a year tick or two.
Green Sandpiper and Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit will already be moving at the start of the month, with Avocet also an increasingly reliable prize at inland waterbodies.
Mid to late April is a brilliant time for a smoky-black Spotted Redshank to drop in, while Whimbrel may be heard passing loudly overhead. Other larger species, such as Greenshank and Ruff, are also on the move at this time, while Bar-tailed Godwit passage really begins in earnest from 20th – the final days of April can produce spectacular movements.
Grey Plover, Ruddy Turnstone and the smaller calidrids will also come into play towards the end of the month, although predicting their appearance is no exact science. Birds can drop in during any weather, but waders are strong fliers and the chance of a surprise shorebird on your patch increases as weather deteriorates. Murk, heavy cloud and outbreaks of rain tend to ground more birds than clearer weather, although a brisk north-easterly wind may be enough to temporarily stall their northward progress.
Cover new ground
EXPLORING new sites can be done all year round, but you’re most likely to learn the potential of an area in spring. This is because the basic suite of both breeding and migrant species can be worked out, even after just one visit, and this can help define whether it’s a site worth revisiting.
So, pick up an OS map of your local area, or load up Google Maps, and have a look. There will inevitably be some form of green space within a few kilometres of home that you haven’t visited or has no birding pedigree. If you’re in an urban area, this might be a small park or waterbody; in the countryside there are likely to be several options, with patches of woodland, farmland or river open for exploration.
You may not want to stray far from your own local patch during the exciting month of April but – time and pandemic restrictions allowing – it might be worth giving it a go, perhaps during a quiet spell. You could discover a really productive site that will give excellent birding results, or even an unexpected species for the area.
Log winter departures
MOST birders keep a note of when they see their first individual of each spring migrant of the year, but the departure of regular winter visitors gets less acknowledgement.
Both Redwing and Fieldfare usually make it onto birders’ April lists, though the further south you live the less likely you are to encounter these species as the month goes on.
For many, wildfowl are exclusively winter birds, and Eurasian Wigeon, Eurasian
Teal and Northern Shoveler, for example, may not be seen beyond April.
Jack Snipe can still be recorded at the start of the month, and if you’re lucky you may bump into a Brambling, perhaps even a summerplumaged male in song. ■