Winter birds in Mid-Dorset.



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WINTER BIRDS IN MID-DORSET.


By A. R. Williams.


At the end of summer the songs were hushed and silence fell

upon the birds. The migrants congregated on trees and telegraph

wire, and by October the last had departed for warmer climes. We

missed the persistent note of the Landrails, and the activities of the

Swifts and Swallows, but in autumn and winter there was no

scarcity of birds. Quite the contrary. The falling of leaves, laying

bare the bushes and branches, made the birds more visible, and

increasing severity of weather drove them to the residences and

workplaces of man for the purpose of getting food. Additionally, in

summer the birds are in pairs and scattered over wider remoter

areas, whereas in autumn and winter they flock and feed in fields

and meadows.


The autumn of 1916, though wet at times, was, on the whole,

fine and pleasant, but it passed quickly ; frost and snow occurred in

November, and winter was upon us. Then the wild birds resident

in this mid-Dorset valley were more noticeable and observable than

in the other seasons.


The birds I name as being found in Mid-Dorset have been

observed in a casual manner whilst going about a large farm at work,

or described by one of the men and substantiated by at least one

other witness. No doubt, could full time be given to the subject,

could a man spend a whole winter devoted to searching for and

examining the birds of a single area, the list, with details, might be

enormously extended, but that is a counsel of perfection. Most

of us have many things to do each day, of which working for a

livelihood is not the least, and the study of wild life is a side

issue.


Pigeons are plentiful in the woods. They were seen mostly

in early autumn, feeding on the ripe corn before and during harvest.

In winter they ventured near us less often, flying away in great

sweeping curves at the least alarm, and disappearing into the plan¬

tations at top speed. Small parties up to about half a dozen in

number spent a good deal of time in the dairy meadows, otherwise


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