The Dawn Chorus!

Did you know that there is a Dawn Chorus Day? I had no idea and this year it’s on Sunday 1 May 2022.

The dawn chorus is always the male birds and they start their song in earnest from mid March through in to June and to hear them first thing on a morning is always a wonderous event how ever many times you may have heard it. Set your alarm and rise just before dawn, pick a good clear, still morning and get well wrapped up and venture out into the garden, the woods, parks anywhere where the birds will be.  Or if you’re lucky as am I living in West Burton in the Yorkshire Dales, all I need to do is open the window and lay in bed and enjoy! What a pleasure to start the day with bird song. As we get into May the volume will turn up as those birds who have returned from over wintering in warmer climes will be joining the resident robins, blackbirds, thrushes, wrens and more.

I’m not quite sure which bird song fits which bird but think it’s usually the blackbird the first followed by the thrush and the ever distinctive call of the wood pigeon and then as the morning warms a little the smaller birds, robins, tits, wrens, chaffinches will join in. Here are some short recordings for you to enjoy and perhaps will help you to identify them in future.

These mighty little bodies do all this for very good reasons, setting out their territory and to find a mate. Those males who sing loudest and longest get the female as she thinks he will be the strongest and the best for helping her to raise her young. If you should continue to hear a lone song as the months go by he has been unlucky and not found a mate, always a little sad.

So, set your alarm and enjoy, wherever you may be!