242
THE ESSEX NATURALIST
Notes on Birds at North Fambridge
By J. T. Friedlein
By mid-October 1968 Fieldfare had arrived in thousands and
due to the good crop of wild berries on the uncut hedgerows large
numbers delayed their further flight south to feast to their hearts'
content. Redwing were as usual feeding with the Fieldfare, but
being timid birds they take only second place, and are pushed
around by their stronger migratory companions.
Bird observers in this area claimed that the reason for the
presence of such large numbers of these birds was the huge berry
crop. This was true in one sense, but they failed to point out that
the real reason for the largest ever arrival of these migrants from
Scandinavia was probably due to one of the most successful breed-
ing seasons for well over 100 years, and that in turn was entirely
due to weather conditions in their breeding haunts. Friends of
mine in Norway wrote me that from May until late August the sun
shone daily without the usual rainy weather for those parts. In
fact it is claimed that Norway has not had a Summer like it for
around 200 years!
By November 22 the huge flocks had nearly cleared the berry
crop, and on that day many thousands started to move off by 4
p.m. It was a remarkable sight to see these strong flyers gradu-
ally gaining height over our farm. Within a few minutes they
reached such a terrific height that they appeared as just specks in
the sky, and then the whole flight moved off southwards at great
speed and in a few seconds were out of sight. No doubt these
splendid birds go up and up until they find a following wind
current and I should imagine that by dusk they would have been
well into France.
Winter took over on February 7, 1969 and by the 10th Red-
wing were in real trouble. By February 16 Fieldfare and Redwing
were desperate for food. On February 18 we picked up dead
Fieldfare and Redwing everywhere, and greatest tragedy of all a
dead Kingfisher! Since 1963 we have not seen any in these
marshes. Probably this bird was frozen out of its pond or stream
haunt and came to the salt marsh for food. It is hard to see how
they can get any small fry in such weather.
Our Song Thrushes and Blackbirds seemed unaffected by the
hard weather!
On February 26, 43 Brent Geese arrived and grazed daily on
the sea-washed turf within 150 yards of our cowshed. By March 2
the Brent had tamed down well and were enjoying themselves
displaying and feeding happily with Mallard, Pheasant, Snipe, and
Moorhen.
As soon as the cold weather started Snipe were to be flushed
from roadside ditches still with running fresh water.
We also have a Water Rail on the farm which is an event. It
feeds with the Moorhen from the pond and we hope a mate will
turn up by Spring, but fear this is doubtful as the natural habitat
is very restricted here.