BIRDS 



As Staffordshire is an exclusively inland county, and occupies an area 

 comprising some of the highest land in the centre of England, with bleak 

 moorlands rising to an altitude of upwards of 1,500 feet above sea level 

 it contains no large rivers, but at the same time it is the birthplace of 

 the Trent and the Dove, and numerous smaller streams which become 

 tributaries of the Severn and the Mersey. These smaller streams have 

 in many cases during past centuries gradually formed deep gorges and well 

 sheltered and wooded valleys much frequented by many of the warblers 

 and other small birds, and forming also the home of the dipper (Cinclus 

 aquaticus] and the ring-ouzel (Turdus torquatus}. The large meres of 

 Aqualate and Copmere and lakes and reservoirs at Trentham, Han- 

 church, Rudyard, Madeley, Chillington and elsewhere find a home for 

 the grebes and are frequented in winter time by many species of wild- 

 fowl. In the south-east of the county we have the extensive and barren 

 heather covered tract known as Cannock Chase, where the red grouse 

 (Lagopus scoticus] and the black grouse (Tetrao tetrix), owing to careful 

 protection, once more abound, after having at one time almost reached 

 the verge of extinction. The physiographical features of the county 

 before referred to attract several species of wild birds in the breeding 

 season which do not nest in many counties in England, such as the curlew 

 (Numenius arquata), the ring-ouzel (Turdus torquatus] , the grey wagtail 

 (Motacilla melanope}^ and the dipper (Cinclus aquaticus}. Staffordshire also 

 borders closely upon, if it does not actually lie within, the range of 

 one of the great flight lines of many of our British migratory birds, 

 namely that from the mouth of the Humber and the north-east coast 

 across England to the Bristol Channel. ' By this flight line,' says 

 Whitlock (Birds of Derbyshire, pp. 16, 17), ' travel in autumn the 

 whimbrel, curlew, greenshank, green sandpiper, wood sandpiper, little 

 stint, longtailed duck, common scoter, Manx shearwater, gulls, terns, 

 lapwings, golden and ringed plovers, hooded crows, fieldfares, redwings, 

 sky-larks, chaffinches and mistle-thrushes, with occasional visits of the 

 grey plover and bar-tailed godwit.' The return migration of these birds 

 takes place by the same route to a great extent, and these birds meet our 

 spring migrants coming by the same route, and thus Whitlock goes on to 

 say ' we have two opposing streams of birds on the move at the same 

 time.' Referring to this same flight line Dr. McAldowie 1 says : 



I believe this migratory route to be of great ornithological importance not only to 

 Staffordshire but to the country generally. It brings many fine birds to our county 



1 ' Birds of Staffordshire ' in Report North Staffordshire Field Club, \ 893, pp. 15-17. 



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