Migration Of Birds

Seasonal migration is a major factor in the life of many birds. In some cases this migration is very obvious and involves huge distances but at other times it is much more subtle. In the UK most people know that Swallows, Swifts and many small passerines such as Wood Warblers and Redstarts are migratory birds. They are present in the summer, but fly south along with many other species to warmer climes for winter. Similarly, many ducks and geese are only present in the UK during winter while they return north to the near arctic in summer to breed.

What is less well known is that a number of our more regular birds are migrants as well. Birds that we see all year such as Robins and Starlings either leave or come to Britain during the winter. For some of these species, birds move south a certain degree over their whole range so that though my local birds have left and gone south their more northern cousins have also moved south and arrived. The overall effect can be that to a cursory observation, the population is sedentary when in fact it is quite dynamic. A further complication to this picture is that in some cases only part of the population is migratory.