Wildlife without borders

Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust’s Frieda Rummenhohl celebrates the magic of our migrating wildlife

- Frieda Rummenhoh

Wildebeest and basking sharks are known for their epic seasonal migrations, but there’s a lot of travelling going on much closer to home. September and October is the time when you’ll be able to spot swallows gathered on telephone wires and powerlines – their version of the departure hall – as they prepare for the long journey to warmer climates. Birds spring to mind when thinking about migration – they’re probably the most well-known wildlife travellers. From the smallest to the largest and all in between, nearly half of all birds native to the UK migrate to sunnier places in autumn.

The goldcrest, our smallest bird, seems no candidate for a long journey overseas, given it weighs about the same as a sheet of paper, but bird ringers regularly find this tiny bird coming from Scandinavia and even as far as Russia to spend the winter in Britain. Our own goldcrests wander but they don’t usually migrate south.