Willow Warbler
Migration... Quite a thorny subject these days, but in the animal world, it’s almost business as usual.
Our fair-weather visitors include the obvious candidates like the Cuckoo, the Swallow, the House Martin and the Swift. All arriving from Africa between late March and April - but there is another among them who was perhaps less conspicuous, yet is our most common migrant.
Two million pairs of Willow Warblers breed in the UK which is three times the amount of Swallows. Often hidden in trees and bushes, you just don’t notice them as much.
Before that return journey to their winter home in South Africa, they stock up on as many West Dunbartonshire bugs as they can.
Weighing only ten grams, that wee bird makes the 8,500 mile journey back to the Dark Continent for the second time.
As the summer visitors check out the winter visitors check in. Redwings and Fieldfares travel here from Iceland in October. Members of the thrush family, they love our winter berries and often feed together in one big flock.
One of the most beautiful birds to look out for is the Waxwing, with an elegant little tuft on its head and a robber’s black mask, it’s mainly light brown with flashes of yellow and red on its wings and tail. About the size of a Starling, it gets its name from those red wing-markings which reminded people of sealing wax.
Waxwing