Derwent May
From: The Times
Times Online, UK
The spring migrants are beginning to arrive in larger numbers. Flocks of sand martins have been seen over lakes, where they swoop and swerve in pursuit of flying insects. These small brown-and-white birds have had a long journey from south of the Sahara desert, and they are now building up their strength before returning to the quarries and sandpits where they will excavate their nest holes. The two other British members of the forked-tailed family, the swallow and the house martin, have also been reported in ones and twos, but it is not yet time for the majority of these to come back. Sand martins are always earlier.
The first ospreys have also been seen over lakes, where they dive for fish. These large white raptors are heading home to Scotland in leisurely style.
Some early chiffchaffs are back in the woods, singing their “clink-clunk” songs from the treetops, or coming down to the sallow bushes to snap up the insects that gather round the silver catkins.
They are the first to appear of a whole tribe of different warblers that are on the way.