A Visit from BBC Radio 4!

You don't need to be an expert to enjoy the magical atmosphere created by the dawn chorus at Coombes Valley, and we want everyone to experience it, so come along as early as you like!  BBC Radio 4's 'The Living World' team have visited us bright and early this week in honour of International Dawn Chorus Day on May 5th.  BBC Presenter Trai Anfield has kindly penned today's blog for us, so over to Trai to describe the experience in her own words.

This week the Living World team recorded a special programme to celebrate International Dawn Chorus Day. We travelled to North Staffordshire to revel in the early morning symphony of woodland song echoing through the Churnet Valley Living Landscape, at the RSPB’s Coombes Valley Reserve. This is a wonderful spot to appreciate one of nature's most uplifting soundscapes.  Site Manager Jarrod Sneyd proved an expert guide to all the resident and migrant birds which sing to attract a mate and secure territory at this time of year. 

At 4am, with the moon still bright and mist cladding the valley, the only sound was the eerie screech of tawny owls. They were soon joined by the "rhythm section" of the chorus: frog-like croaks of woodcock and the caw of crows. With the rhythm established the scene was set for the soloists to make an entrance: robin, wren, willow warbler, song thrush and blackbird wove a curtain of sound that rose and fell over the next couple of hours, charting momentous moments in these birds’ lives. 

Coombes Valley Site Manager Jarrod Sneyd talking to Trai about the Dawn Chorus (Photograph courtesy of Trai Anfield and Hawk's Head Photography)

I thought it might be fun to share a SNEAKY BEHIND-THE-SCENES PEAK of how we made the programme in a short video I made for the BBC Radio 4 website. 

You can catch the programme itself on BBC Radio 4 at 0635 on Sunday, May 5th...

….but if you’re not an early bird yourself, or you missed it, you can listen again on BBC i-player! 

Thanks to Jarrod and all the team at RSPB Coombes Valley for a great couple of days, I'm sure I will be back again before too long.

Trai Anfield

Presenter, The Living World, BBC Radio 4.