What's this bird song

Hi folks,

Not sure if anyone can help me with this - but my family and I have been living in a small rural village in mid-Staffordshire for the last 20 years and this week we have started to hear a bird singing late at night.  It can be all hours of the night.  So last night, for example, he/she was chirping away at midnight and could also be heard this morning at 5:30am.

Can anyone identify the bird from this audio I recorded this morning at about 5:30am (poor quality as recorded on my mobile phone).  Is it something rare and exotic or just a blackbird with insomnia :) 

Many thanks.

Bird Song at night 2.m4a

  • Hi Keith

    Sounds like a Robin to me. They are well known for singing at night particularly if there are artificial lights. It's thought to be more common in urban areas where the birds can be tricked into thinking it's still daylight. There's an article HERE which you may find of interest. It doesn't really explain why it should have suddenly started in your rural location though.

    I can't tell for sure but there may be more than one Robin - perhaps a couple of rival males proclaiming their territory. That might be a reason.

  • Hi Tony,

    Yes that makes total sense, I did sense there were 2 sources of the bird song when I made the recording this morning.

    Many thanks for the reply and I'll take a look at the article.

    Regards,
    Keith