This year's 'Autumnwatch' is a birdwatchers paradise
Keep your eye on the sky this autumn for astonishing aerial displays of birds swooping and diving in unison
Claire Webb - 28 October 2020
This year’s Autumnwatch promises to be a birdwatcher’s paradise, because not only will Chris Packham be surveying his home patch in the New Forest, but also the cameras will be trained on Tentsmuir Forest in Fife, the Centre for Alternative Technology in mid-Wales and South Yorkshire’s RSPB Old Moor.
At RSPB Old Moor, Gillian Burke will be keeping an eye out for the waterfowl and waders~that pass through or overwinter at this reserve in the Dearne Valley, near Barnsley. Once heavily polluted by mining, it’s a fabulous example of the transformative powers of nature and has been turned into a beautiful wetland in just over 20 years. Thousands of waders, including lapwings, golden plovers, spotted redshanks, curlew sandpipers, little stint and wood sandpipers, refuel here before their migration south. Huge flocks of wildfowl spend the winter here, such as the wigeon – a pink-breasted duck that flies in from Scandinavia, Iceland and Russia and fills the air with its whistle.
Over in Powys, Iolo Williams will be on the lookout for one of Europe’s rarest geese: the Greenland white-fronted goose, which has suffered a dramatic population decline in the past two decades. These elegant black birds make the 600-mile trip to the UK and Ireland for winter and can also be spotted on the Hebridean island of Islay. But migratory birds can be seen all over the country at this time of year, so here are a few of our favourite spots where sightings are very nearly guaranteed.
SPOT THE KNOTS IN NORFOLK
With its vast coast, lagoons and shingle beaches, RSPB Snettisham on the north Norfolk coast is a haven for wildfowl and waders, and a particularly great place to see knots – a record number of about 140,000 birds flying in a vast cloud was spotted recently. These dumpy wading birds are brick-red in summer and grey in winter and visit the UK from their Arctic breeding grounds. They gather in their hundreds, often thousands, and are a wonder to watch if you see them rise as one, in a huge flock that wheels in an extended wave, creating a spectacular aerial display. You can also see them at Norfolk’s Blakeney Point, along with brown shrikes, wrynecks, icterine warblers and flycatchers.
HEAR KINROSS’S HONKING PINK-FOOTED GEESE RSPH
Loch Leven is 30 miles north of Edinburgh and one of the best places in Scotland to see migrating birds en masse in autumn. Up to 20,000 pink-footed geese can land here after travelling south from Iceland and Greenland. These sociable birds can be distinguished by their loud honk and make this freshwater loch a very noisy place at this time of year. Whooper swans also make it their home for winter, flying in from Iceland, and if you’re lucky, you might also spot a white-tailed sea eagle.
GO GAGA OVER BRENT GEESE AT STRANGFORD LOUGH
After breeding in Arctic Canada and Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, thousands of small, black-headed, pale-bellied Brent geese fly to Northern Ireland and the north of England for the winter. More than 22,000 of these Canadian birds – around 75 per cent of the world’s population – winter on the mud flats of Strangford Lough in Down, refuelling on eel grass after their 3,000-mile journey via Greenland and Iceland. Just 20 minutes’ drive from Belfast, the lough is an island-dotted marine reserve that welcomes 80,000 birds every winter, including knots and redshanks. Light-bellied Brent geese are also a common sight at Lough Foyle in Derry and Strabane and at Northumberland’s Lindisfarne reserve.
SEE SPOONBILLS ON DORSET’S BROWNSEA ISLAND
Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour in Dorset is rich with bird life, and in autumn large flocks of migratory waders feed in its lagoon, including spoonbills from Denmark and the Netherlands, avocets from France and Germany, and black-tailed godwits from Iceland. The island is also home to oystercatchers, common and sandwich terns and dunlin, while the colder months are the best time to spot a peregrine falcon perched on the sea wall. Ferries from Poole quay have ended for this year, but will resume in the spring.
MARVEL AT STARLINGS
Thousands of starlings migrate to the UK from eastern Europe, joining our resident starlings. At dusk, circling flocks fly in swooping, twisting formations – known as murmurations – before settling to roost. There are dozens of locations across the country where you can see this spectacle, from RSPB Minsmere on the Suffolk coast to Brighton Pier and Gretna Green in Dumfries and Galloway. You can find recent sightings and the best places to spot a murmuration near you at starlingsintheuk.co.uk.
This year’s Autumnwatch promises to be a birdwatcher’s paradise, because not only will Chris Packham be surveying his home patch in the New Forest, but also the cameras will be trained on Tentsmuir Forest in Fife, the Centre for Alternative Technology in mid-Wales and South Yorkshire’s RSPB Old Moor.
At RSPB Old Moor, Gillian Burke will be keeping an eye out for the waterfowl and waders~that pass through or overwinter at this reserve in the Dearne Valley, near Barnsley. Once heavily polluted by mining, it’s a fabulous example of the transformative powers of nature and has been turned into a beautiful wetland in just over 20 years. Thousands of waders, including lapwings, golden plovers, spotted redshanks, curlew sandpipers, little stint and wood sandpipers, refuel here before their migration south. Huge flocks of wildfowl spend the winter here, such as the wigeon – a pink-breasted duck that flies in from Scandinavia, Iceland and Russia and fills the air with its whistle.
Over in Powys, Iolo Williams will be on the lookout for one of Europe’s rarest geese: the Greenland white-fronted goose, which has suffered a dramatic population decline in the past two decades. These elegant black birds make the 600-mile trip to the UK and Ireland for winter and can also be spotted on the Hebridean island of Islay. But migratory birds can be seen all over the country at this time of year, so here are a few of our favourite spots where sightings are very nearly guaranteed.
SPOT THE KNOTS IN NORFOLK
With its vast coast, lagoons and shingle beaches, RSPB Snettisham on the north Norfolk coast is a haven for wildfowl and waders, and a particularly great place to see knots – a record number of about 140,000 birds flying in a vast cloud was spotted recently. These dumpy wading birds are brick-red in summer and grey in winter and visit the UK from their Arctic breeding grounds. They gather in their hundreds, often thousands, and are a wonder to watch if you see them rise as one, in a huge flock that wheels in an extended wave, creating a spectacular aerial display. You can also see them at Norfolk’s Blakeney Point, along with brown shrikes, wrynecks, icterine warblers and flycatchers.
HEAR KINROSS’S HONKING PINK-FOOTED GEESE RSPH
Loch Leven is 30 miles north of Edinburgh and one of the best places in Scotland to see migrating birds en masse in autumn. Up to 20,000 pink-footed geese can land here after travelling south from Iceland and Greenland. These sociable birds can be distinguished by their loud honk and make this freshwater loch a very noisy place at this time of year. Whooper swans also make it their home for winter, flying in from Iceland, and if you’re lucky, you might also spot a white-tailed sea eagle.
GO GAGA OVER BRENT GEESE AT STRANGFORD LOUGH
After breeding in Arctic Canada and Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, thousands of small, black-headed, pale-bellied Brent geese fly to Northern Ireland and the north of England for the winter. More than 22,000 of these Canadian birds – around 75 per cent of the world’s population – winter on the mud flats of Strangford Lough in Down, refuelling on eel grass after their 3,000-mile journey via Greenland and Iceland. Just 20 minutes’ drive from Belfast, the lough is an island-dotted marine reserve that welcomes 80,000 birds every winter, including knots and redshanks. Light-bellied Brent geese are also a common sight at Lough Foyle in Derry and Strabane and at Northumberland’s Lindisfarne reserve.
SEE SPOONBILLS ON DORSET’S BROWNSEA ISLAND
Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour in Dorset is rich with bird life, and in autumn large flocks of migratory waders feed in its lagoon, including spoonbills from Denmark and the Netherlands, avocets from France and Germany, and black-tailed godwits from Iceland. The island is also home to oystercatchers, common and sandwich terns and dunlin, while the colder months are the best time to spot a peregrine falcon perched on the sea wall. Ferries from Poole quay have ended for this year, but will resume in the spring.
MARVEL AT STARLINGS
Thousands of starlings migrate to the UK from eastern Europe, joining our resident starlings. At dusk, circling flocks fly in swooping, twisting formations – known as murmurations – before settling to roost. There are dozens of locations across the country where you can see this spectacle, from RSPB Minsmere on the Suffolk coast to Brighton Pier and Gretna Green in Dumfries and Galloway. You can find recent sightings and the best places to spot a murmuration near you at starlingsintheuk.co.uk.