There has been a good early arrival of Cuckoo, with some birds already making it to Ireland and Scotland, and I expect the reporting rate for this week will be ahead of the historic curve when the results are in. 

There have already been several Swifts seen, including one that reached North Uist on Wednesday, on what was an exceptionally warm day for early April. Reports of Swallows and House Martins are picking up and although the earlier-arriving Sand Martin is still being reported more frequently than other hirundines, I would expect Swallows to become the most frequently reported hirundine by this time next week. 

Tree Pipits have been widely reported from their breeding sites in the last few days and Yellow Wagtails, which always brighten up a spring day, have been appearing around wetlands.

Nightingales, which are very rarely detected on passage, have evidently arrived en masse to their breeding sites, with lots of reports of singing birds in their strongholds, particularly in Kent and Essex.

There has also been a clear uptick in reports of woodland specialists Redstart and Pied Flycatcher. Plenty of Redstarts have been seen on passage, both at the coast and inland, but Pied Flycatchers have largely moved through undetected, with most reports coming from breeding sites across the west of Britain, including several reports already from Scotland.

April-arriving warblers appear to be ahead of schedule, with a big arrival of Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat apparent in recent days. The first Sedge Warblers often arrive in late March, but this year’s arrival does appear to be ahead of schedule, with the species already appearing on 2.5% of Complete Lists last week. Reed Warblers typically arrive later, but here at BTO HQ in Thetford, there are already five singing males at our Nunnery Lakes reserve, where last year the first arrival was not until 13 April.

The more uncommon Grasshopper Warbler, with its distinctive reeling song, has also started to be reported. Populations of this species tend to fluctuate, but last spring saw a higher than average reporting rate in BirdTrack, so it will be interesting to see whether that repeats this year.

Of the commonest warblers, Willow Warblers have been arriving as expected, with the reporting rate rising to 14% in the most recent week from 3% in the previous week. Chiffchaff, appearing on 65% of Complete Lists during the last week, is currently the sixth most frequently reported species in BirdTrack. The flutey warbling song of the Blackcap has also become ubiquitous, with the reporting rate now at 37%.

Last week we predicted an increase in spring ‘overshoots’ – where species that typically breed further south fly beyond their usual breeding grounds – and this has also been apparent this week.

Hoopoe is generally the most numerous species in this category and there have been lots of reports in recent days, with a clear skew towards southern Ireland and south-west England, including five on St Martin’s, Isles of Scilly.

A whole range of other expected overshoots have been reported, including the first Black-winged Stilt of the year, a couple of Bluethroats, two Red-rumped Swallows at Spurn, Yorkshire, and several Serins. However, the place to be was Great Saltee Island in Wexford, Ireland, which recorded a Wryneck, a Woodchat Shrike and a Western Subalpine Warbler on Wednesday.

Looking to the week ahead, temperatures are expected to fall and arrivals of spring migrants may slow a little, but many species will no doubt continue to become more widespread. There’s a possibility that we could see some easterly winds over the next week and if that turns out to be the case then we would expect to see Little Gulls appearing over large lakes and reservoirs, perhaps some flocks of Ruff and maybe even the first Wood Sandpipers of the spring.

As always, thank you for adding your sightings to BirdTrack to help us monitor the spring migration and I wish you a good week of birding ahead.