Migrant Birds
Find out about some of the visitors to Milton Keynes
Why do birds migrate?
Not all bird species migrate but some do in summer in order to breed and feed their young. Many fly north to take advantage of being able to find food in our long summer days, for example from the winter in southern Africa or from equatorial countries where daylight is shorter than in Europe. Others fly south in winter to escape snow and ice.
Spring
There is a surge in summer visitors arriving from March to May.
One of the first to arrive is the Sand Martin. You might see several flying around the Sand Martin Bank at Linford Lakes. This was constructed to imitate their natural holes in sandy cliffs or quarries.
You will recognise the call of another migrant, the Cuckoo. The reedbeds and woodland edges attract them to lay eggs in the nests of other birds such as warblers and buntings.
Summer
By June and July the woodland and reedbeds are busy with warblers filling their beaks with food for their young.
Like the Cuckoo, the Chiffchaff has a call that sounds like its name. It squeezes in two broods of six eggs before returning further south. More Chiffchaffs are staying longer here instead of migrating, perhaps because of winters becoming milder here.
Autumn
The shorter days of autumn prompt many birds to return south. The resident birds in the lakes are joined by different birds stopping off to rest or feed in the middle of their journey from northern Britain towards Africa.
You may be lucky to be there when a Green Sandpiper spends a few hours bobbing along the muddy edges of the lakes.
Or perhaps you will spot a family party of Spotted Flycatchers in the trees, darting out to catch a fly and then returning to the same perch.
By the beginning of winter the resident wildfowl will have completed their summer moult into fresh plumage and will be more out in the open water. The lakes also become fuller when the migrant ducks move from colder Scandinavia to spend winter here.
The elegant Pintail (see photo) often stops off here. And pairs of Goldeneye sometimes stay for few days. They can disappear for a minute or so underwater chasing fish and other food.
Regular winter visitors are the thrushes such as Redwing (see photo) and Fieldfare. Flocks of them can spend days in the hawthorn bushes and hedges feeding on red berries.
Learn more about the species which call our parks home, what we do to protect them and how you can support local wildlife.
Kestrels, Sparrowhawks, Peregrine falcons, Red kites, the Common buzzard and some owl species are regular visitors or residents of Milton Keynes.
