I MENTIONED in my article previous article from March on Ronkswood Meadows Nature Reserve, my local birdwatching patch, that I was looking forward to the arrival of a variety of summer migrants.

Three months on and spring has fulfilled its promise and more!

To quote this earlier article: “Since I relocated to Worcester in September last year, I have recorded 40 species using the area and I’m particularly looking forward to spring when the summer migrants return in the shape of chiffchaff, willow warbler, blackcap and hopefully, on the scrubby areas, whitethroat. I will also be on the lookout for butterflies, another interest of mine.

Like all birdwatchers, I look at the habitat and mentally draw up a wish list for my patch. In addition to whitethroat, I would be over the moon if the patches of gorse bush attracted a wintering stonechat or that during spring passage the odd wheatear or whinchat dropped in.”

Of course, when I wrote that article, we were not yet subject to a Government and a self-imposed lockdown nor abiding by social distancing measures and I had planned to spend many hours recording the breeding species over the spring and summer.

I am using my permitted exercise to make much shorter early morning visits to the reserve when I can, and these allow useful levels of coverage and is also excellent mental therapy.

Two days after the article appeared in the paper the first migrants arrived. The chiffchaff is traditionally the first of the summer visitors and its song, a simple ‘chiff chaff’, makes one sense spring is around the corner.

Following closely on its heels was the blackcap. The warbler I covered in my column last month.

One other bird I mentioned in the Ronkswood article was the willow warbler. Almost identical to the chiffchaff, its song is totally different and the best way to tell them apart.

I have only seen two this year and that is most likely because the habitat is not quite suitable. It is more of a woodland bird and Ronkswood is predominantly mature hedgerows and scrub.

The biggest personality on the reserve is a warbler I had ‘hoped’ for. The common whitethroat should find the reserve ideal for its requirements; scrub, nettle beds and some high perches to belt out its scratchy song.

And so it has proved. Spread across the reserve and the former Tolladine Golf Club adjoining it are five territories. If I am struggling to photograph other birds on the reserve, I can always guarantee to get a great one of a singing whitethroat.

The final migrant that chooses to call Ronkswood its summer home is the lesser whitethroat. A greater contrast to its commoner cousin would be hard to find.

The lesser is a skulker extraordinaire. It sings from deep cover most of the time, sits in the open infrequently and then only briefly. I am still struggling to get a good photo of one.

I consider the habitat on Ronkswood ideal for wheatear to take a pause on during migration; the cow-grazed, natural grassland being like that found on its upland breeding grounds and it was a reasonably realistic species to wish for.

You can therefore imagine how pleased I was to find a female last month. One down, two to go…