A small group of about 15 people, mostly adults assembled at 5 am to experience a Dawn Chorus in a woodland setting. It was quite dark as we made our way to a small clearing, above the main wood, where we could assemble safely, away from the noise of the River Inny and watch the dawn rise. Fortunately. it was dry and not too cloudy.We had anticipated that we would hear Song Thrush, Blackbird, Wren, Robin, Rook, Chaffinch hopefully augmented by migrants such as the Chiffchaff, Blackcap and possibly Redstart but it remained to be seen when these birds would wake up and sing to us. 

In practice we did hear all except the Chaffinch and the Redstart, but the early song came first from the Robin at 5.20 am with first one then two birds singing at quite long intervals. It was nearly 5 minutes later, with many more robins singing,  that the Blackbird joined in, in a rather subdued mood and these two birds dominated the sound-scape until a Song Thrush opened up at 5.30. The Thrush became more confident and took over center stage, only interrupted by an occasional Pheasant, Tawny Owl, and Wood Pigeon. Our first Wren was heard at 5.37.  Five minutes later, the Blue Tit and Blackcap joined in, followed by Great Tit and Jackdaw.

Blue Tit

By 5 50, it was quite light and the intensity of song was slowing down, so we wandered through the woodland, slowly heading for our bacon butties, stopping occasionally to try and learn the song of some of the dawn chorus participants. Noticeable by their absence were the Willow Warbler and the Chaffinch. It was comforting to hear several song Thrushes spread over the reserve, as numbers are thought to be decreasing.

At 6.45 precisely, Jackie arrived with hot bacon, sausage, bread, marmalade, biscuits tea, coffee and squash to round the visit off in fine style.