Picture: Reed Warbler
From The Independent:
Tot it up. Buds are bursting. Leaves are opening. Blossom is blooming. Flowers are flourishing. Butterflies are emerging. Trout are rising. Birds are singing. Birds are nesting. And indeed, birds are arriving. The arrival of the migrant birds that winter in Africa and spend the summer breeding in Britain is perhaps the most exhilarating April event of all… it has been estimated that (before the declines began) as many as four million willow warblers alone landed in Britain every spring – four million pairs of tiny whirring wings crossing the Sahara, the Mediterranean, Spain and France and finally the Channel before fanning out across the land to begin their silvery descending songs.
For Fleet Pond specifically, we have had as many as 40 breeding pairs of Reed Warbler in the reedbeds. This bird is the one the cuckoos need at the pond because they are the cuckoos’ favourite for nests. They can watch the birds building nests in the reeds from the trees and then drop in and lay as soon as a few eggs have been laid (see picture below).
Picture: Reed Warbler Raising the Young of A Common Cuckoo
Also keep an eye out for house martins and swifts. Nothing says spring more than a flock of swifts screaming their welcomes overhead.
Picture: Swift in Flight