Check your local railway line (1 Viewer)

[greer3]

If you live near a railway line which runs parallel to a footpath or close to a place you can access on foot, it's worth checking it out this Spring.
My local patch in South Cumbria includes sections which crosses the railway either on road or foot bridges, and includes stretches close to a footpath.
Because the railway lines are fenced off, any birds choosing to nest within the boundaries are left undisturbed by humans or dogs. The vegetation is left to grow wild unless it becomes problematical, encroaching too close to the railway lines, in which case it's cut back.
Last year I found several Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Linnet, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Blackcap and a other species taking up territories within the bounds of the fencing. This morning I heard the first Common Whitethroat of the Spring, in the dense vegetation below a railway footbridge.
I've also seen Common Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher on Autumn passage, along the line in the past.

 

[Paul Chapman]

This echos very much the importance of brownfield sites and the benefit of sympathetic management of incidental land - ie don't cut it down & don't poison it!

All the best

Paul

 

[MJB]

This echos very much the importance of brownfield sites and the benefit of sympathetic management of incidental land - ie don't cut it down & don't poison it!

All the best

Paul

I've often found that hedges bordering scrapyards, waste disposal sites, industrial development areas and former railways can produce interesting birding.
MJB

 

[greer3]

I've often found that hedges bordering scrapyards, waste disposal sites, industrial development areas and former railways can produce interesting birding.
MJB

True. The local train station was closed years ago. The surrounds are a now neglected wasteland. Every year a pair of Oystercatcher breed or attempt to breed there. It also hosts Common Whitethroat regularly.
Our local cricket club borders an industrial estate and again Oystercatcher breed there most years; the youngsters sometimes end up on the boundary edge during a game; the safest place they can be - our batsman seldom hit the ball that far!

 

[Farnboro John]

I've often found that hedges bordering scrapyards, waste disposal sites, industrial development areas and former railways can produce interesting birding.
MJB

E.g. The Dump Clump on St Mary's!

John