May 2025 Ramsbury Bird Notes by Paul Swan

Snipe

To echo Peter in his report, the last few weeks have been glorious, and the perfect weather to be out and about. At the time of writing, the swallows are nearby, but I have not yet had a report of them in the village. I am sure that they will have arrived by publication date! May should also see the return of the cuckoos, house martins and possibly swifts.

The Seven Bridges area is particularly full of birds of all sorts at the moment, mostly in pairs. We have seen kingfishers, marsh tits, long tailed tits, chiff chaff, blackcaps, Cetti’s warblers, reed buntings, dunnocks and Mandarin ducks. We have also heard the willow warbler, reed warbler, and on a couple of occasions the water rail. A little further along, on the way to Littlecote, we spotted red kites nesting in clear view, and a pair of kestrels always in the same tree, although the nest is not visible. These beautiful raptors often nest in tree cavities and regularly return to the same nest site every year.

Unusual sighting of the month must be when a domestic cat proudly presented its latest catch. It turned out be an uninjured bird – a snipe! This rarely seen bird is a medium sized wading bird with short legs and a long straight bill. Although they are supposedly quite common in this area, I have only seen one in the last 25 years. This one was quickly released and flew off at some speed.