The Somerset Levels flood regularly – but this year, after very heavy winter rains, the fields and moors are overflowing with water. So what effect does this have on wintering birds?
Like most extreme weather events, there are winners and losers. Huge flocks of gulls are gathering in the flooded fields to feed, with scarcer Mediterranean and little gulls joining the regular black-headed, herring and common varieties. These have attracted a white-tailed eagle from the Isle of Wight reintroduction project, although it does not appear to have caught any victims yet.
Lapwings are more visible than usual, as high depths of water on some of the nature reserves mean they are unable to feed, so must move off into shallower areas to do so.
But spare a thought for the local barn owls. They usually hunt over damp, grassy fields, especially less intensively farmed areas with longer vegetation and plenty of voles. Now the fields are too wet for the rodents and because barn owls’ soft feathers are not waterproof, they are unable to hunt in the rain and find it difficult to stay warm.
When the flood waters recede, as they usually do at the end of winter, we will discover which species have survived and thrived, and which have struggled. But with more severe and frequent weather events such as this winter’s rainfall, the long-term forecast for our birdlife is not good.
