Garden birds that head north for the winter

22 Dec 2021 | No. 2021-59

Research, from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), in collaboration with Oxford University and Max Planck Institute, Germany, has uncovered the unusual migration of Blackcaps into UK gardens for the winter months.

It has long been known that birds move south for the winter, indeed, those birds that arrive here for the winter months, such as Redwings and Fieldfares that are escaping the worst of a Scandinavian winter, move south into the UK, while our summer visitors head south for warmer climes anywhere from southern Europe to South Africa.

That some Blackcaps do spend the winter in the UK isn’t new information but the fact that they originate from at least seven different countries to the east and south of the UK is. Until recently it was thought that our wintering Blackcaps had their origins in southern Germany. We now know that most birds come here for the winter from France, with others from as far away as Spain and Poland too.

The movement north from Spain is particularly intriguing as southern Spain and the Mediterranean coasts are the main Blackcap wintering locations and much nearer to those north bound birds than the UK. It is thought likely that our increasingly warmer winters and widespread garden bird feeding enable these Blackcaps to survive – access to these resources has provided them with a distinct advantage, enabling them to return to their breeding sites around a week before their southern migrating rivals.

Greg Conway, Lead Scientist on the project at the BTO, said, “Over four winters, a network of dedicated ringers marked over 600 wintering Blackcaps with individual colour ring combinations, generating thousands of sightings from Garden BirdWatchers, and we tracked the full migration of 30 birds with geolocators. The project owes its success to this close partnership between research scientists, BTO ringers, Garden BirdWatchers and the public.”

Rob Jaques, BTO Garden BirdWatch, said, “It is great that our Garden BirdWatchers have played such a pivotal role in reporting where these colour-ringed Blackcaps (two rings on each leg) have been seen. It would be even better if more members of the public could look out for them this winter and tell us where they are via our free Garden BirdWatch survey.”

He added“So far this year we have seen typical numbers of Blackcaps reported by BTO Garden BirdWatchers, with about 4% of gardens reporting these fascinating warblers, but if we get more snow and freezing temperatures, that figure will likely rise as birds come in search of our garden feeders.”

All sightings of Blackcaps with colour rings should be sent directly to: blackcap [at] bto.org

For more information on BTO’s Garden BirdWatch and how to report your garden birds, please visit www.bto.org/gbw

Contact Details
Paul Stancliffe
 (BTO Media Manager)
Mobile: 07585 440910
Email: press [at] bto.org (subject: News%20release%20enquiry)

Mike Toms (Head of Communications)
Mobile 07850 500791
Email: press [at] bto.org (subject: News%20release%20enquiry)

Images are available for use alongside this News Release. These can be downloaded from this link for which you will need to enter the password Atricapilla202159 alternatively, please contact press [at] bto.org quoting reference 2021-59

Notes for editors
 
BTO Garden BirdWatch is designed to find out how, when and why birds and other animals use our gardens. Participants send in weekly lists of garden birds and other wildlife, which are analysed by scientists working under the BTO's urban and garden ecology research programmes, to investigate the links between changes in wildlife populations and factors such as garden management, food, weather and urban structure. www.bto.org/gbw
 
BTO is the UK's leading bird research charity. A growing membership and up to 60,000 volunteer birdwatchers contribute to BTO's surveys, collecting information that underpins conservation action in the UK. BTO maintains a staff of 100 at its offices in Thetford, Stirling, Bangor (Wales) and Belfast (Northern Ireland), who analyse and publicise the results of surveys and projects. BTO's work is funded by BTO supporters, government, trusts, industry and conservation organisations. www.bto.org

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