Dawn Chorus Walk

I'm really not a morning person, so it takes something special to get me up at 4am. I've never really been a bird person either, other than enjoying birdsong as background noise.

The Dawn Chorus Walk run by the Environmental Education Project at Rosliston Forestry Centre was a real eye-opener (ear-opener?). Here's a taster of what we were listening to at about 5:30


Dawn Chorus 1 May 2010 | Music Codes

A chap called Dave led us around the site telling us about the songs that we were listening to. It's amazing that once a particular song has been explained to you, you can pick it out from the general cacophany. Also amazing that once you can recognise a particular bird's song, you can then 'spot' that bird from its call alone, tell roughly where it is, and then maybe even see it.

The dawn chorus itself is something special. Each bird has its own special song, but when put together they make a fascinating piece of music with random elements.

I'm very pleased to have experienced it, and to have seen such a wonderful sunrise.