Costa Del Sol? More Like Costa Del Dorset!

Paul morton, of birds of poole harbour, reveals the remarkably exotic feathered spring visitors that are making pulses race in the bird watching community.

- Paul Morton

MARCH heralds the true start of spring but with temperatures so variable it’s often hard to get into the swing of spring, especially when snow and frosts are still possible during this ‘month of transition’. However, when April arrives its not only the warmer temperatures that can make you feel slightly hot under the collar, some of the more exotic visitors to our shores can get many pulses racing.

Throughout April millions upon millions of birds of all shapes and sizes are migrating their way across Europe. Having made the long voyage up through Africa and into southern Europe many stay put once they hit the Mediterranean but, more often than you think, our Dorset coastline plays hosts to ‘spring overshoots’, birds that have accidently migrated too far north on route to their normal breeding grounds.