FORK Bird Report – August 2008
I am writing my first bird report for FORK in August, the low point of the birdwatching year. The breeding season is over and our summer visitors have left – Swifts and Sand Martins to Africa, the Chiffchaff that sings along the riverbank to the Mediterranean or further south. The year-round residents are lying low while they complete their moulting period and there are few bird songs to be heard – only the harsh chack of the Magpie and the five-note call of the Woodpigeons. Soon, however, we shall hear the Robin’s rather plaintive autumn song, the Goosanders will reappear below the footbridge at the Botanic Gardens and the winter thrushes will return.
This summer there was lots of interest happening along the Kelvin. Great Spotted Woodpeckers could be seen at Dawsholm and when things were quiet downstream the footbridge along from the recycling centre proved a good vantage point for observing Kingfishers and Dippers. Long-tailed Tits raised a brood in the Arboretum. In early May the parents had at least two adult helpers.
Long-tailed Tits, unusually, may have several helpers feeding the young, as siblings whose attempts at breeding have failed assist the parents, greatly increasing the chance that they will rear their young successfully and come through the breeding season in better condition.
Great Tits nested in the stone wall by the Ha’penny Bridge, the young leaving the nest in the third week of May, and a young Grey Wagtail was seen in July by the weir downstream from Queen Margaret Bridge.
Sparrowhawks nested on the north side of the river below Doune Gardens. The young could be heard calling from the nest with a series of squawks and shrieks and later along the riverbank near the Ha’penny Bridge. Sparrowhawks breed relatively late in the summer so the young will hatch at a time when there is a ready supply of young birds of other species, Blue Tits for example, to keep them supplied with food. This brood left the nest in the third week of July. Although they can fly a few days after leaving the nest they remain dependent on their parents for almost a month.
Richard Brown set a very high standard over the past few years and his interesting and informative bird reports will be greatly missed. I cannot claim to be the new FORK ornithologist – more a ‘bad birdwatcher’ in the Simon Barnes mould – but will do my best to fill the gap. My usual ‘patch’ is the stretch of the river from the Arboretum downstream to Kelvinbridge and sometimes on to Kelvingrove Park. I would welcome observations from other FORK members to include in my reports – please send them to me at:
This FORK Bird Report is taken from the Autumn 2008 edition of FORK News