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Bird-life in the Parish of Doddington
From the 1997 Village Appraisal - Report by Graham Cuthbert, 1996

The Parish
Land use in the Parish of Doddington is divided fairly equally between woodland, arable (including set-a-side) and fruit-growing with some rough grazing. This provides for a wide range of bird species - with the exception of those which are water-loving.

Nature's changes and the human influence
Since the decline in the numbers of raptors during the 1960's - due to DDT entering the food chain - kestrels and other birds-of-prey are making a strong come-back. Kestrels are by far the most common raptors in the Parish; however, sparrow hawks are becoming more numerous and hobbies and common buzzards can be sighted each summer.

Doddington Place Park was home to a very large rookery until the great storm of 1987, after which the birds left. Some have established a new rookery below Newnham, just before the motorway bridge. The magpie and the crow are increasing in numbers, but many farmland birds - for example the song thrush, skylark, lapwing, corn bunting, tree sparrow, linnet, grey partridge - are now in decline. The RSPB is currently carrying out research to explain this phenomenon; it is certainly the case that the way we alter our surroundings has a profound effect on the bird-life supported in our parish.

Foreign Visitors
Apart from breeding birds, we have many visitors; some are passage migrants simply resting or feeding, whilst others may come to spend the summer or the winter here.

View across Chequers Hill from the cob-nut orchard. 1997.

ALPHA MASON

During the summer, everyone is aware of the cuckoo, swallow and house-martin, but there are many other birds that may visit our parish. During the winter months, large flocks of fieldfares and redwings, both of the thrush family, search our hedgerows and gardens for berries; linnets, goldfinches and a range of other seed-eaters stop by to eat the weed seeds in our gardens, fields and hedges. Meanwhile, several of our much-loved garden birds - robins and chaffinches, for example - move further south or west, to be replaced by species from central Europe or Scandinavia. Of the 'resident' birds, it is usually the females who partially migrate - leaving the slightly more hardy males to risk the weather and guard the breeding territory.

Until the early to mid-seventies, there was a small pocket of breeding wrynecks in Doddington Place Park. The reason why this strange, migratory relation of the woodpecker stopped visiting is unknown.

How we can help
We can all assist our birds by helping to feed them: peanuts, seeds and mealworms for the insect-eaters; unwanted fruit, cooked potatoes and other scraps for the others. Planting berry-bearing shrubs and trees provides much needed resources but, perhaps most importantly, try not to be too tidy in the garden - leave some weeds to go to seed.

Graham Cuthbert, 1996

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