The cuckoos and swifts are long gone, while the swallows are gearing up to head south, as the remaining house martin stragglers see off their second and third broods at Fairy Hill. It has been a good year, the highlight: 40 hirundines hawking flying ants in early August, and a single female sparrowhawk cruising through the throng with neither species batting an eyelid.
As one group of birds leave, there is great anticipation for an influx of redwings, fieldfares and hopefully waxwings from “up north”, not least because the hawthorns, rowans, rosehips are bent double with the weight of this year’s berry crop. It was thought at one time that the northern birds could somehow sense a glut in the UK. More likely it is a poor berry crop in Scandinavia that drives “irruptions” here – indeed, I hear from mid-Sweden that that is the case.
Any visitors may well find themselves in a supermarket car park, where many of our berry trees are planted, or in parks and gardens, gorging on native berries and the fruits of ornamental plants. They will face stiff competition from native blackbirds, song and mistle thrushes, and others from continental Europe.
Galloway has its own folklore sayings for weather predictions, on the subject of rose hips: “Many haws means many snaws (snows).” Time will tell how much snow we get, but I can say for certain that the rose hips and rowans are in enough abundance for me to make some into syrup, while the blackberries and elderberries will become jams. I have high hopes for the ancient crab apple hugging a dry stone wall by my croft, and complete secrecy please for the sloes hidden on the dwarf blackthorn, for which a bottle of gin awaits.
Another sign of a plentiful harvest is that my well-stocked bird tables have been virtually visitor free for weeks, the fat balls are beginning to disintegrate and even the kitchen scraps – a rook’s delight – are showing signs of mould; meanwhile 10 cooked sausages by the badgers’ “gate” were still there five days later. It seems that this year, the animals simply do not need the supplementary food.