Spring is one of my favourite times of year at the reserve, the welcome splash of colour from the primroses and bluebells, the buzz of queen bumblebees seeking pollen and nectar to start up their colonies and the wonderful sound of birdsong in the woodlands and hedgerows. As spring progresses, we have the excitement of new birds arriving and making themselves busy attracting a mate, building a nest and raising a family.
Red-tailed bumblebee on bluebells (Anna Allum) and Chiffchaff (Graham Osborne)
But, following the latest clear instructions from the Government for us all to remain at home, we have closed our reserve to visitors until further notice and I, like many of you, am working from home and trying to find a way to stay connected with our wonderful wildlife.
As well as missing the wildlife, it has been such a shame to cancel so many of our favourite events, including our popular Birdsong Masterclass sessions. So I thought I’d share some of the birdsong ID hints and tips that we include in these events online instead. I’ll be introducing a couple of species a week, concentrating on those that we are most likely to hear from home, out in our gardens or simply through an open window.
I’m going to begin with one of my favourites…the wren.
Wren (Graham Osborne)
The wren is the most common breeding bird in the UK and it’s got a pretty loud voice so I thought this would be a good place to start.
But first for some general tips on learning bird song.
If you hear a bird singing, there are a few characteristics of the song that you should consider:
Pitch: How high or low is the song? Does the pitch change within the song – does it descend down a scale, is it all high notes or does it include a whole jumble of low nights, high notes and everything inbetween?
Tone or Quality: are the notes clear, mellow and piping or does it have a nasal, scratchy or squeaky tone?
Length: is the bird singing short phrases or one continuous song.
Repetition: Does it always sing the same notes or phrases? Is there are repeated pattern?
Rhythm and tempo: Does the song sound urgent or leisurely? Can you make out a particular rhythm or number of beats?
Volume: This will of course vary depending on how close the bird is to you, but you will notice that some birds have louder voices that carry further than others.
So, now you are listening carefully it’s time to work out who is singing and then how you’re going to remember it!
Learn the common birds first, the ones that you will see and hear regularly - being able to watch and listen at the same time will certain help to get you started.
If you’ve been making a list of the birds you have seen in your garden as part of #BreakfastBirdwatch then try listening to recordings of the song to familiarise yourself. You can use the audio clips on our RSPB Bird A-Z which you can find here:
https://bit.ly/2JttXpl
As I’ve been learning bird song I’ve relied on ‘gimmicks’ to help me remember which song belongs to which bird. One of the first I learnt was that a yellowhammer sings ‘ A little bit of bread and no cheeeese!’ and when I hear a nuthatch doing it’s ‘morse code’ call I picture it bouncing up and down on typewriter keys. Putting words to the song or inventing a character for the bird really helps me.
If you are keen to get to grips with birdsong, I’d very much recommend the ‘RSPB Guide to Birdsong’ by Adrian Thomas published in 2019. Adrian’s book comes with an accompanying CD and is beautifully written. It includes a great introduction and a reference guide to many of our birdsongs and calls, each with descriptions & sonograms.
So let’s get started with the wren…
Wren (Chris Prince)
For a tiny bird (an average wren will weigh about the same as a ten pence piece) the wren definitely punches above its weight. When singing he perches on top of a branch, tail cocked and yellow beak open wide, visibly shaking with the effort. I liken him to a town crier – he feels he has something very important to say and he wants as many people as possible to hear it! The wren’s song can carry up to ½ a mile.
As well as being loud, this song is fast and urgent – he can sing up to 40 notes per second.
Over the past year we’ve also been monitoring bird species using sound recorders. As well as creating an audio recording, this also creates a sonogram - a visual representation of the sound. A sonogram is essentially a plot of the frequency (or pitch) of the sound over time and this can help you to visualise the characteristics of the song.
From this you can see the varied but generally high pitched song (the highest note on a standard piano is around 4 kHz) – this is why it sounds quite shrill. You can also see the sheer number of notes in the fast trill section which sounds a bit like machine gun fire.
A copy of the wav. sound file that accompanies the sonogram is attached.
The wren will sing this same phrase and will usually pause for few seconds before he starts again rather than it being a continuous stream of song. The other noise that you’ll hear from a wren is a rather scolding ‘tec, tec, tec’ – you are in his patch and he’s not impressed!
You can also listen to an audio clip on the RSPB Bird A-Z:
https://bit.ly/39yyXDN
Give it a go and see if you can hear a wren singing today and then keep an eye out for my next blog when I’ll add another species to our repertoire. Learning bird song does take time but perhaps we have a little more time than normal at the moment. It also takes patience so be kind to yourself and as Adrian puts it so well in his book ‘Consider every new sound you learn as a victory’!