After another mild winter spring started early but was suddenly checked by a cold wet spell. The river flooded on 4 April but water levels quickly returned to just below the top of the bank due to careful management using weirs and balancing lakes. It must have been a real shock for them having come from tropical heat to a frosty Milton Keynes. Indeed the day of their arrival was cold and wet with no insects flying around for them to eat, if this weather had persisted for a few days they may not have survived.
Migration can obviously be a dangerous choice.
In fact the trees were alive with birds, blue tits, great tits, wrens and particularly long tailed tits which were also collecting spiders webs from the window frames to construct their nests. As in previous years there have also been good populations of snipe at this bird hide, I have seen up to 29 on one occasion, so the reports that this species has all but vanished from Northamptonshire may be a little exaggerated. The new housing is on fields that have traditionally been good for hares, indeed I saw one just a couple of weeks ago less than half a mile from the nature trail. Unlike rabbits hares need large open areas and are almost certain to disappear from the Milton Keynes area as it becomes more developed. It is increasingly important that the nature trail and green areas are maintained in as natural condition as possible and are not simply converted to urban parks with short cropped grass and heavily pruned trees otherwise even more species will vanish.