Focusing on Nature

Supporting Conservation

Find out how your bookings help wildlife and communities.

Why not buy a Gift Voucher?

Migrants Welcome!

Fri 28th Aug, 2015

September is wildlife migration month! From tiny insects blown thousands of miles across Europe to resident birds such as Blue Tits roaming beyond their home range to find food. Many millions of animals are on the move. Marvelling at and studying this spectacle is one of the year’s highlights for many people who love wildlife. This interaction between people and nature produces some amazing stories. A Blue Tit caught and ringed in a garden near Flamborough Lighthouse during autumn was then caught again by the same bird ringer in his own garden near Beverley the following spring!

Silver Y moths are one of the most visible insects which explode onto our shores in autumn. Named after the Y shape on their wings they can produce up to four generations in a single year if the weather is suitable. Huge numbers arrive especially when the winds are from the south or east. The adults mate shortly after they emerge from the cocoon. On the wing they only survive for up to three weeks during which time they can fly thousands of miles! Look out for them anywhere in Yorkshire during the day when they can join familiar butterflies such as Peacocks on nectar bearing plants such as Buddleia.

Much rarer and much larger than the Silver Y is the biggest of our migrant moths the Convolvulus Hawkmoth. This night flyer has a very long proboscis (tongue) which allows them to feed on tubular flowers such as the Tobacco plant (Nicotiana sylvestris). Small numbers migrate from North Africa every year and September is the best month to find one. Check around overnight lights where they can rest during the day.

Bat migration is still a mystery but we are now beginning to find out how far some of them fly. A Nathusius pipistrelleabout the size of a human thumb ringed in the UK was found in the Netherlands on the 23rd December 2013 600 km from where it was ringed in the UK! This was first record of a bat crossing the sea from the UK to mainland Europe. Most of our common bats such as Common Pipistrelle and Daubenton's bats start to mate in September. A good warm month with plenty of flying insects will provide opportunities to store lots of fat reserves for the start of hibernation in October.

Yorkshire is famous for its bird migration and has the most Bird Observatories of any UK county. Filey, Flamborough and Spurn are fantastic places to watch out for arrivals and departures in September. Swallows are really busy, feeding like crazy to put on enough fat for their long journey to South Africa, by the end of the month most will be gone.

Spurn Migration Festival on the 4th September is a celebration of bird migration and a wonderful opportunity to see thousands of birds of many species. Songbirds such as Meadow Pipits which nest in Yorkshire migrate south with their Icelandic cousins escaping to areas with more winter food. At the time of writing in late August large numbers of Pied Flycatchers from Europe have arrived on our coast. Look out for these beautiful birds anywhere on our coast from the spectacular Jurassic cliffs of the North York Moors Park to the low lying Holderness coast.  

Birds of prey also migrate. Two to look out for this month are Kestrels and Short-eared Owls both of which migrate from Europe. Owls often land on boats before they reach shore exhausted from their journeys.