We had some enquiries about our recent annual Dawn Chorus. For those who couldn't be here for 4.30am to watch the first light and to hear the huge burst of early morning bird song, here are some notes from Peter, our volunteer guide for the morning.....
Dawn Chorus Walk Sunday 5th May.
The Weather was fine and dry – hardly a cloud in the sky, but still a little cool for the start of May, with evidence of overnight frost on the ground.
Overall I have to say that we had fewer numbers, and fewer species, singing this year compared to 2012. The continuing cold weather was clearly still having a significant impact on migrant arrivals.
From the Car Park we had singing Robin, Song Thrush and Blackbird, and as I did the introductions, I was accompanied by a male Cuckoo – not to far distant beyond the farm.
As we progressed down the Bridlepath we experienced the full crescendo of the dawn chorus, and it was difficult to pick out individual species.
Of the commoner birds, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Chaffinch all performed well, as did Dunnock, and the later rising Wren, once the sun came up.
Great Spotted Woodpecker drummed several times in the woodland – but no evidence of Lesser Spotted. We also had a couple of “Yaffles” from a Green Woodpecker.
Warbler song was disappointing – with the exception of Blackcap and Sedge Warbler, which were singing well and in reasonable numbers in their respective habitats, but most of the others were very poor compared with 2012.
Blackcap – good numbers in all suitable habitat – the most prolific singing warbler of the morning.
Sedge Warbler – heard singing in all the expected places – second only to Blackcap.
Chiffchaff – very disappointing only a couple heard along the whole of the bridlepath.
Willow Warbler – just a single singing male to the right of the entrance to the main reserve near where the path crosses the stream.
Whitethroat – one or two only, on the main reserve, plus one on the Children’s Adventure Area.
Lesser Whitethroat – A single singing male, in the area bordered by the path down to the river and the stream to the right.
Cetti’s Warbler – A single bird was heard – very briefly – near where the woodland walk path exits onto the Bridleway near the canal.
Of other singing and non-singing birds –
Reed Buntings performed well, I think everyone went away confident of identifying their song when heard again.
The Herons were very active, but the Rookery was uncharacteristically quiet.
Swallow numbers were low for early May – and we had no sightings of Sand Martin, House Martin or Swift.
Black-headed Gulls were noisy, but in relatively low numbers, mainly due to the continuing high water level on the Fishers Mill Pool – with most of the islands still under water.
In summary - a most enjoyable Dawn Chorus – but both the overall numbers of singing birds, and number of species seen/heard were down on 2012.