Invicta Vlogs
Up with the lark
Like many of you, the unusual circumstances at present have spurred me into action to do things that I would not ordinarily include in a normal school week.
This week, I have been setting my alarm for the ridiculously early time of 5 am and dragging myself out of bed to take the short walk to Manor Park Country Park. With its lake, mixed woodland, parkland meadow, fields and chestnut paddock, this local country park is ideal for the idea I have in mind: to listen to the dawn chorus.
From April to June, as day breaks, songbirds live up to their title and fill the air with music. However, as beautiful as it may sound to us, it is in fact a feisty territorial battle; it is the males who sing with two key purposes in mind: to defend their territory and to attract a mate. The males who have most stamina and can sing the loudest and longest are more likely to attract and keep a mate.
On my early morning sojourns, I’ve discovered that that the dawn chorus is not a random cacophony of birds vying with one another for sound space but that there is a regular sequence with certain species always starting before others. The earliest to rise are robins, blackbirds, skylarks and song thrushes. The later arrivals to the choir, include wrens and warblers.
Being a keen walker, I’ve become over the years, pretty good at identifying birds – but from sight. I’ve learnt how to confidently tell a great tit from blue tit, a nuthatch from a tree creeper, a sisken from a yellowhammer. However, being able to identify birds simply from their song is a craft that I’ve never quite had the time or patience to master. It is with this in mind, that I have set myself the challenge of being able to identify birds from their song and in order to do that it looks as if I am going to continue with my early morning rises to enjoy the dawn chorus. One benefit of the chorus starting so early and being finished around 6 am, is that there is still time to go back to bed and reset that alarm!
International Dawn Chorus Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of every May, so this year it falls on Sunday 3 May. This now global event began in 1984 when the broadcaster and environmentalist Chris Baines decided to celebrate his 40th birthday by inviting friends and family for a very early birthday breakfast, so they could enjoy the dawn chorus with him. Since the 1980s the event has grown and is now an annual event, with events organised around the world.
If getting up 30 minutes before sunrise seems a bit unreasonable, then of course there is the much more relaxing option of opening your window and listening to the chorus from the warmth and comfort of your bedroom. If indeed, even that seems a little too arduous then you can always listen out for the dusk chorus about an hour before sunset. It isn't quite as dramatic as the dawn chorus but the birds still impress. Failing that, you can listen to a recording of the dawn chorus whatever time of day it is on this link… https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=FKr4F1I8Uvs
Mrs Giles
Head of Lower School
