Birds on your doorstep

THE summer months can be frustrating times for the keen birder. Our woodlands seem particularly empty at this time of the year. Where do the birds go?

They are still there but are no longer singing or displaying. Having done their breeding for the season they no longer have to hold territories. Making yourself visible is a dangerous business. They will also moult their worn out feathers ready for the trials of winter or migration. So keeping a low profile is a good idea. However, garden feeders can still attract family parties of Tits and Finches. You will notice their dull plumage compared to the bright colours of early Spring.

Looking up you may be lucky to see Swifts. The numbers over Bristol are far fewer than past years. There are not enough decrepit roofs to provide nesting sites. They leave quite early and they will be gone by the end of the month. Nonbreeding Red Kites are a regular, if infrequent, visitor to Bristol and one was seen over Bishopston not long ago.

Towards the end of the month you might get lucky with the odd migrant heading South. Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler will often pass through gardens with hedgerow cover. You might even get a Redstart or Reed Warbler, even in the middle of the city.

Alastair Fraser

Bristol Ornithological Club Avonbirding.blogspot.com

I ONCE wrote about an article about a 19th century predilection of educators to establish schools in the leafy suburbs of northwest Bristol, a tradition that continues today.

However I missed one of the largest and enigmatic undertakings – the boys' preparatory school called Wayneflete.

Established by the Reverend W.H. Wilkinson, he had named the school in honour of William Patten, alias Barbour, who adopted the name Wayneflete when he became Bishop of Winchester and founder of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Lord High Chancellor of England.

Wayneflete’s birthplace has been ascribed both to St James in Bristol and to the town of Wayneflete on the coast of Lincolnshire; as honoured as Bristol would have been, the latter explanation seems more likely. Nevertheless, whatever the Bishop’s origins, Reverend Wilkinson did build a preparatory school for boys on the site of what had been Vincent Lodge, (which explains the road name ‘Vincent’s Hill’ off Grove Rd).

The house had been built as the private