Nightingales in November by Mike Dilger Read Free Book Online

domestic apples, Privet and Mistletoe.

    BirdTrack Records of Waxwings reported in Britain and Ireland in January 2013.

    With the location that British Cuckoos spend the winter being only recently revealed, information as to what theymight actually be eating in the Western Congolian swamp forests or lowland forests of northern Angola is non-existent. In Britain, Cuckoos eat hairy caterpillars, beetles, flies and ants, as well as the females predating eggs and chicks from any nests that they parasitise, and there is no reason to suggest that their diet will deviate dramatically while in Africa. Certainly the forests of the Congo are incredibly biologically diverse, so there must be plenty of invertebrate food on offer for the Cuckoos.

    Similarly for Nightingales at this time of the year, there are still far more questions than answers. It’s likely that most British-breeding birds are still in the coastal zone between Guinea and Sierra Leone and frequenting savanna woodland, thorny scrub, river gallery forest, humid forest edges and any areas of low secondary growth. Being a ground and perching bird, very fond of keeping to cover and rarely flying out in the open any more than is necessary, it is a safe assumption that they will also be keeping a low profile in West Africa. Before leaving Britain, Nightingales will supplement their insectivorous diet with berries, but it’s more likely that on their wintering grounds they will be feeding on beetles, ants and flies caught on the ground and in the undergrowth.

    From the little information we have about Puffins feeding away from the colony, the fact that large flocks are virtually never seen out to sea in the winter months suggests that they largely shun company, and being so spread out means they will be feeding at very low densities. Those Puffins that haven’t finished their wing moult will still have only a very limited ability to disperse any distance, and it’s a fair assumption that when not roosting on the sea, the birds willdivide their time between diving for food and preening at the surface. During the breeding season the Lesser Sandeel tends to dominate the Puffins’ diet, but during winter, the fish bury themselves into the sand on the sea floor, instantly making themselves more difficult to catch. This in turn means that the Puffins will be forced to turn to a far more varied diet during winter, consisting of other marine fish, marine worms and even squid.

    Because of the far more open nature and visible way in which Swallows go about their feeding business, more is known about their winter diet in southern Africa than for any of our other three summer visitors. It seems that in winter, the Swallows’ main prey is flying ants and beetles, but they also take spiders, caddisflies and grasshoppers. They will also take non-flying prey like bugs and caterpillars, with swarming termites thought to be an important part of their diet following rains. While flies are a very important part of a chick’s diet in Britain, it seems this prey is less frequently caught in South Africa. Being far more mobile, flies are more difficult to catch, and as the Swallows will still be moulting their tail feathers and outermost primaries at this time, they won’t have quite the fine degree of manoeuvrability that they would normally expect, so opt instead for the ‘easy meat’ of slower-moving prey.

February
    The weather in February could best be described as ‘a curate’s egg’, or ‘good in parts’. On a cloudless sunny day it can feel like spring is bursting forth, only for the following day to bring the harsh reality of winter crashing back down with snow, ice and a brutal northerly wind. With the weather effectively operating like meteorological roulette, the cold, wet and windy days will see our resident birds hunkering down and committing to little more than finding sufficient food to see them through the nights. Better days, however, will kick start the mating