Page 27 - Oundle Life September 2021

TAKING FLIGHT
Autumn Birds in the Oundle area
The Northamptonshire countryside around and beyond Oundle is now beginning to look a little jaded as we take our first steps into early autumn. Over the forthcoming weeks
we can expect to wake up to those dewy,
early morning mists forming in the low-lying meadows along the Nene Valley, as well as the dramatic riot of colour, which so characterises autumn as local woods and parklands take
on every imaginable shade of red, yellow, and gold.
In the world of birds, however, ‘autumn’ had already begun, way back in late June, when the first migrants started moving south, back toward their winter quarters. Among these, the Cuckoo rises to prominence as first off
the mark, with favoured localities, such as
Titchmarsh Local Nature Reserve, Barnwell Country Park and the woods and scrubland around Polebrook, all falling silent after its departure. The first adults have made it south across the Sahara by mid-July, while stragglers from this year’s young may linger several
weeks longer before departing. Swifts, too – a regular summer sight around Oundle, drawing your eyes skyward with their familiar shrill, screaming calls and scythe-like wings – have all but gone by early September.
But let’s not lament the departed. There is much to look forward to as autumn progresses. The end of September heralds the arrival of many wintering birds moving south and west from Scandinavia and beyond, prominent among which are two rather smart-looking
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All images © Clive Bowley