Listening to the dawn chorus.
We used the Merlin app to see what was around the garden at 7am on 1st May. Paul can hear all the birds but I'm afraid with a slight hearing loss and tinnitus I can only pick up the sound of the Wood Pigeon and Herring Gull. Also Crows and Magpies sometimes. The days of waking up to the Robin and Blackbird singing are gone. Once I'm outside I can hear them if they are nearby, especially when out on walks.
Up on the local fields and nature reserve we picked up the call of an amazing number of birds, again some I could hear and some I couldn't.
We heard Blackcap (spotted) Robin, Sedge warbler, Blackbird, Skylark (spotted), Willow Warbler, Wren and Reed Warbler (spotted). No photos as we didn't take cameras. The air was dry and warm and Orange tip butterfies flitted here and there and there were lots of those black flies with long dangling legs which are apparently called St Mark's Flies. All this no more than ten minutes walk from home.
Foxy was spotted in the garden on a couple of warm evenings. No sign of any cubs yet. I've never forgotten the time, a few years ago, when one of the foxes carried all five of her cubs, one by one, across our garden to a second den on the other side of our hedge after their original den was disturbed by building work in gardens not far away.
I'm pleased that she is looking healthy, we've noticed she sometimes brings a friend with her, another female. They respect one another so I think they are either mother and daughter or sisters. We hear the foxes call sometimes, a sharp bark. Also the badgers can be heard churring and purring as they go about their business of digging worms out of the grass. Sometimes there is a bit of banter between fox and badger. The foxes are always wary of badgers around their cubs.
All for now.
I seem to behind reading your posts Rosie! What a great idea to listen to the Dawn chorus using the app (a bit early though!) Great to see Foxy looking so well, let's hope a few more cubs come along soon. The butterflies have gone rather quiet here at the moment, I haven't seen any of the brown ones yet, maybe it's still too early. 😊
ReplyDeleteThank you CK. I wrote this and forgot to post it so it's only just been done. It was interesting to know what was in and around the garden early in the morning. It's aways lovely to see the cubs playing around the garden. I've seen one little brown butterfly with yellow spots on it's wing tips, not sure which one this is, also orange tips but no commas as yet and they are usually quite early:)
DeleteSo sorry Rosie - not sure how but I missed this post. My husband has that app on his phone - I am like you I am afraid and these days cannot hear bird song except for wood pigeons. Super photos of the fox.
ReplyDeleteThank you RR, I wrote it a few days ago and forgot to publish so did so just before the last one, hence two together. It's sad not to be able to hear some of the smaller birds. I'm going to have to think about hearing aids. I make up words for the wood pigeon calls, also the black bird ones when I hear them. We are liking the lighter nights so we can see both foxes and badgers, two badger last night:)
DeleteGreat photos of Foxy. She and her female companion must love visiting your garden. I'm sorry that you find it difficult to hear some of the birds singing these days. They are such a sweet sound.
ReplyDeleteThank you Beverley. Both females visited last night and brought one cub with them a little male cub. It is quite sad to not be able to hear the birds singing anymore. I must think about hearing aids:)
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