Anja Murray: Spring migration is tough enough — here's how we can help

And volunteers are needed now for The Countryside Bird Survey... the data collected is how we track the changes in populations of our common and widespread birds over time

Cuckoos arrive back in the last days of April and into the beginning of May, causing great excitement up and down the country when the first calls are heard. Cuckoos, however, are arriving back in much reduced numbers these days — a decline attributed to the changing nature of Irish farm fields, a result of the intensification of agriculture. Picture: Edmund Fellowes/ BTO.org

Now that we are in March, its impossible not to feel an excited anticipation about the arrival of house martins, swallows, swifts and cuckoos back from wintering grounds in Africa. Their return is a fundamental feature of springtime — harbingers of long summer days and ample outdoor adventures to come. I am eager for the long evenings in which to watch swifts and swallows swoop gracefully about the garden and the fields below the house... mesmerising in sound and movement.

The first to arrive back are generally the house martins and sand martins, who are expected here at the end of March or in early April. Both are recognisable by their small forked tails, which help them manoeuvre with such agility as they chase down insects in flight, often seen swerving close to tall trees with admirable precision. Right now, they are already en-route, making their way up the African continent, over the Sahara region, across the Mediterranean Sea, then all the way up through Europe.

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