A common question I am asked at this time of year, late Summer, is where have all the birds gone? The countryside is quiet and there is little movement of birds, other than the usual Wood Pigeons, Crows and Rooks flying over the village!

The reasons it is so quiet are:

• the birds have finished the breeding season, there is no longer a need to sing to attract a mate or defend a territory,
• many birds are now moulting so will want to keep themselves hidden as they are less mobile and more at risk from predation,
• there is plenty of natural food around so less need to come into garden feeders.

But they are still there. If you are out walking listen out for quiet calls from birds well ensconced in hedges and you will often find plenty of birds all moving through the hedgerow together. Over the last few days, in mid-August, a few minutes patience just waiting to see what the flocks of birds contains have revealed:

Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Chiffchaff
Willow Warbler
Blackcap
Whitethroat
Robin
Dunnock
Nuthatch
Chaffinch
Greenfinch

Many of them looking very scruffy. There will be a mixture of young birds in there still acquiring their adult plumage and adults in the middle of moulting.

Robins for instance lose their red breast mid-summer and then take a week or two for it to be replaced with bright new colour. I have been sent a few photos of unkempt looking birds, with feathers sticking out at all angles, with the question what is this? Just another Robin in mid-moult!

The unusual plumage of birds whilst they are moulting plus the added confusion of juveniles who are yet to come into their full adult plumage does make identification a challenge sometimes. I spent some time looking at a distant ‘brown job’ a day or two ago, sitting on a wire over farmland – it was a juvenile Yellowhammer. It took me a few minutes to work that out and to be sure.

We are already ‘losing’ a few bird species as they have flown south for the Winter. Our Cuckoos are now mostly back in Africa, with a few lingering in Europe before they cross the Sahara.

Swifts disappear quite quickly. The feed on the wing high up and when the insects and spiders they catch are no longer there in any numbers they move south. That happened, probably late July / early August around here.

Swallows and House Martins take a different approach. They congregate in noisy groups for several days before they fly south. On 12th August a group of at least 50 House Martins were on the wires over the fields at the west end of the village. They were feeding over the farmland and settling back on the wires, sounding as though they were all chatting with each other.

A group of up to 30 Swallows has been present on the roadside wires and trees towards Buttermere, near to Upper Horns Farm. The numbers vary each day but again as you walk pass you can hear them chattering to each other.

We will see repeats of these gatherings of House Martins and Swallows during the rest of the month of August.

Soon both species will disappear from the UK to return next Spring. They come back to where they are familiar with. They will know the best nesting sites and where to find food locally enabling them to start the breeding process – and get the best nesting sites – as early as possible in the season.

In many respects it is sad to see them go. They have been ever-present since the Spring; rarely a day goes past when I don’t see a House Martin or Swallow. However, it is amazing and exciting to think they will travel far south into Africa and then return to the UK. How do they know where to go? The journey is an arduous one, flying over the inhospitable Sahara, yet many survive to come back to us.

When I have travelled to faraway places and seen ‘British’ birds I am always amazed how they got there. I will have been on a plane to get there and stumble off after a few hours not looking my best. They fly thousands of miles, which can take weeks and turn up looking as smart as we are used to seeing them in the UK. Fascinating!

A species that moves quickly after they have bred is the Redstart. I don’t think they breed in the valley here, but they do turn up as they migrate in the Spring and again on their return migration. I recently found a pair of Redstarts that stayed for a few days on the hilltops behind Hippenscombe Farm. This was in mid-July. They had stopped off at a suitable place - feeding regularly getting ready for their next move southwards.

These are not easy birds to see, despite their red colouring. The birds I saw were juveniles and the only red they show is on their rumps as they fly away from you. They tend to sit on fences and feed from there, jumping down to the ground to catch their prey and then back up to the fence. As soon as they are disturbed, they retreat into the cover of the hedge behind – so the most common view of a Redstart is a brief one and of a disappearing red bottom!

My two this Summer did sit on the fence wire and stayed there allowing me to get good views (but not close enough for a good photo). The hilltop area there and the farm below is a good area for migrants and one I monitor carefully during the migration season. It has turned up some interesting birds.

With the passing of Summer and the arrival of Autumn we can look forward to the arrival of many birds to our shores, some of which will reach us here - more of that in my next Focus article.