Nature notes: warblers and ring ousels

As the leaves burst out on the trees, birds that will spend the summer here come flocking into Britain. The first grasshopper warblers are singing their strange song from dense foliage in marshes or beside swampy ditches. It is like a whirring fisherman’s reel going on and on. The streaky-brown bird occasionally comes up and gives a glimpse of itself. Sedge warblers are singing beside lakes in reeds and willows. Their song is a spirited jumble of sweet notes and harsh sounds, and they show themselves much more readily. Their broad yellow eyestripe identifies them. Ring ousels, like blackbirds with a white necklace, are heading for the moors but stopping en route. Swallows are a more frequent sight. Pink hoopoes with black-and-white wings have been seen walking about on lawns in Cornwall. A few cuckoos have been heard, but most of their rather depleted numbers will come in mid-April.