Birds and Weather

Some people say that because of the tremendous variability of the weather we get in this country, we don't really have a climate a such - we just have weather and we're always talking about it!

The weather systems we experience have an effect on birds too. Strong to gale force westerlies emanating from the Atlantic Ocean in autumn can bring the birdwatcher bonuses in terms of scarce species blown off course onto our shores and occasionally inland on to larger areas of water, such as reservoirs.

Similarly, easterly winds from Asia in autumn can often mean that numbers of scarce birds can end up on the east coast of Britain due to being blown off course.

During the coming months we will look at the varied weather systems which may result in scarce birds being deposited on our shores.

(c) Peter Baron 2012