June 2026 Ramsbury Bird Notes by Paul Swan

Woodlark

The swifts duly arrived a few days after the house martins and are now entertaining us with their screaming flypasts on the warmer evenings. They were closely followed by the first cuckoo that has taken up residence in the Seven Bridges area, awaiting the arrival of a mate.

That area continues to be one of the most bird rich patches in the parish, and on one morning we watched a pair of reed buntings and a pair of grey wagtails plucking flies out of the air in bright sunshine. The early spring warblers have now been joined by sedge, grasshopper and garden warblers. Those of us who love the Seven Bridges walk are delighted that work has finally started to mend the main bridge over the Kennet.

One of our resident birds that I have never seen is the woodlark, so I was delighted to receive a report of one to the south of the village. It is smaller than the skylark with a tuft on its head and a pronounced eye stripe, or supercilium that meets at the back of its head! In the garden our resident blackbirds and robins are still busy feeding their young and we hope to see them soon.