The Dawn Chorus in our Celtic Rainforests

The Dawn Chorus is a familiar signalling of the coming Spring. After the long dark winter, light levels increase, and we become aware of the birds outside of our windows.

Beginning in March with a few early performers, the Dawn Chorus reaches a peak in mid-May tweetering off in June, although you may still hear the random song of a male well into the Summer if they’ve failed to attract a mate!

The early mornings are a special time when the earth is still and quiet. This means that a bird’s song can carry up to 20 times further, vastly increasing the chances of them finding a mate.

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The Robin (2–4 secs) is often the instigator, starting to sing at the first sign of the coming light, up to an hour before sunrise. Their song is fanciful and pensive, with variation in length, pitch and volume.

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/103121

The Wren (4–6 secs) is a series of chirrups and whistles and drills, bubbling up and down in pitch and note length, with an average of about 10 syllables in each verse.

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/791908

The Blackbird, and Thrushes soon join in, when we perceive it to still be dark, and their melodic calls signal the new day, often rousing us from our slumber.

The Blackbird song is a low-pitched fluty melodic whistle, is quite loud and confident, and they often don’t repeat their verses.

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/795892

The Song Thrush, (1–2 second verse) on the other hand, repeats a phrase two to four times, before moving on to the next phrase again repeating this new tune two to four times. They often choose a branch lower down a bush or tree to sing from.

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/780798

A Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus) song is similar to the song Blackbird song, with less variation in pitch. However, the phrases are much shorter – as if it’s being interrupted mid song, forgets what it was singing and sings another instead!

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/778176

As the day arrives other birds join in, such as the distinctive hooting “Take two cows, Susan” of the Wood Pidgeon.

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/778248

various Tits, two of the most distinctive being the Great Tit call which mimics “Teacher teacher teacher”.

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/791907

And the Coal Tit call of a “wee-gee wee-gee wee-gee” sound.

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/790183

If you’re lucky enough to be in a Celtic Rainforest setting for the Dawn Chorus from mid-April, you’ll be treated to the additional arrival of our Summer Resident Birds, such as the Redstart, Warblers and Pied Flycatcher.

The Cuckoo is probably the most distinctive of calls as it sings away its own name over and over, usually from early to mid-April onwards, when they’ve returned from Africa to breed on our shores.

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/798572

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With a similar song to the Robin the Redstart phrases tend to be shorter verses. From April onwards they’ll sing from the tops of the trees, with a melody that is sweet and hopeful, with two or three phrases repeated, starting loudly and tweetering off.

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/728032

A bird with a very distinctive song is the Wood Warbler. Alternating most often between a “piuu-piuu-piuu” call and a distinctive video game type descending drill sound, which starts slow but quickly gathers pace as it descends.
Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/653919

The Willow Warbler song is sad and mournful, liquid sound starting with a crescendo then descending down through the scale, much like water flowing down a babbling brook. Once you’ve mastered this song, it’s easy to hear it again.

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/794502

This insect catching bird, the Pied Flycatcher song sound like an “I’m late-I’m late, zee-wit, zee-wit” followed by a “zee-zee”, although they do like to vary the last two notes, just to confuse us!

Listen here: https://xeno-canto.org/602455

The best way to get to know the songs is to pick one or two different birds, listen to them a good few times, and then go out to sit and listen to the dawn chorus. This way you’ll be able to pick out the verses from the jumble of bird songs you can hear! Why not record them and tag us if you share them on your social media accounts? Let us know how you do!

You could also join us on our Dawn Chorus Walk on Friday the 12th of May; for more info visit our events page: https://celticrainforests.wale...