Bird watcher hot spots: Birds shifting with jet stream

Both birds and birdwatchers alike rely heavily on the weather for their movements, and this autumn, they're headed north, thanks to the jet stream.

'Twitchers' are a term for birdwatchers who travel long distances to spot rare birds, and this season, they're hoping for westerly winds. For the amateur, westerly winds sound rather unappealing, as the wind direction often carries wet and windy weather from the Atlantic. But for Twitchers, it brings North American songbirds.

For the first time ever, a rare songbird, known as the Blackburnian Warbler, was recently spotted in the Isles of Scilly. The bird is native to eastern North America and is thought to have been migrating southwards to South America when it got blown off course by strong winds.

The Isles of Scilly used to be the optimum place for watching these non-native birds, but with the northward shift of the jet stream, there are now increasing numbers of songbirds across Shetland and the Western Isles instead.

There are also fears that there is a reduction in garden birds, due to the hot weather we experienced over summer.