What to see in March!

March finally arrives with hope for better conditions to come. While there is still a chill in the air, spring has surely arrived on the estuary and along the Jurassic Coast. March is an exciting month but it is also has a sadness. At the beginning of the month most of the 30,000 plus wintering birds are still here but as the month progresses, the great spring migration begins. Slowly but surely, noticeably daily, the birds leave for their nesting grounds further north and East.

In early March the Herons are well into nesting at Powderham their eggs have hatched and hungry chicks are demanding food in enormous quantities. High in the leafless oak tree-tops their huge stick nests can easily be seen from near Starcross Yacht Club or one of the bird cruises on the river. Often you can see adult birds standing bolt upright by the nest, looking like soldiers proudly guarding the newly hatched chicks or feeding them from crops full of frogs and small fish.

Look out at Starcross on the mini-golf course or on the marshes at Powderham and Exminster for the Red-breasted goose (2010 pictured below). This extremely rare vagrant from Arctic Russia turned up here in January and has spent the winter among the Brent geese. This remarkably beautiful bird is easy to spot among the Brents.

Little Egrets, those pure white miniature herons, which have arrived here in response to climate change, are also nesting with us now. The Egrets have colonised Britain in the last 30 years and like Moorish invaders they have spread from Africa as the climate has warmed. Predictions were that the Little Egrets close cousin, the Cattle Egret would follow in the northerly expansion of range as temperature continued to rise. We now have three Cattle Egrets spending a lot of time at Powderham and have adopted the Fallow Deer as a substitute for the Buffalo (they feed by following animals and catching insects which are disturbed by their movements) of the African plains. Cattle Egrets bred on the Somerset Levels for the first time in 2008, which was the first record ever for Britain. Should you come across one it is easily identified from the Little Egret by its yellow, rather than black bill and black rather than yellow feet. As climate change progresses even more exotic birds were expected to arrive on our shores such as the Great White Egret, they are now arriving at various locations.

THINGS TO SEE AND DO IN MARCH

* Wintering birds begin to leave throughout March.

* Spring migration starts with Sandwich Terns and Wheatears evident towards the end of the month. Good time for passage waders.

* Fulmars will be back and nesting on cliff ledges. Look for them at Otter Head.

* The Heron colony at Powderham is very active at this time.

* Listen for the extremely loud bursts of song from Cetti's Warbler all along the banks of the estuaries.

Rod Lawrence