Tuning into birdsong

Emma Chaplin

Communications Officer

Every morning before work, I go for one of several short walks near where I live in Lewes. My favourite route at this time of year takes me past Baxters Field, where I stop to look up to the downs and across to Lewes Castle. And I always switch on my Merlin app to help me figure out which birds I'm listening to. This morning the Goldfinches were in particularly fine voice. Also - Robin, Wren, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Sparrow, Magpie, Wood Pigeon, Rook. 

I know what they're doing with their song is mostly looking for a mate or shouting 'Sod off, this is my territory', but it's still a massively uplifting experience to stop and listen to them.

Obviously there are plenty of young birders and people who have loved birds all their lives. But there are also quite a few - like me - who came to it in later life. Despite (possibly) your actual hearing not being so great anymore, you suddenly get your 'ear' in. You stop and listen and become much more aware of the soundscape of our feathered friends, particularly at this time of year. And the arrival of the Merlin app has made it so much easier to figure out which birds are singing near you at any given time. 

I think it might be because you are becoming more aware of your own mortality. And the life of birds, and indeed all wildlife, is precarious. It's tough, surviving winters and incredibly long journeys over thousands of miles. The return of the dawn chorus in spring every year after a long, grey winter, the powerful voices of birds bellowing, kind of: 'I'm still flipping HERE. I'm alive. Hear me roar' - well, there's something truly life affirming about it.

Read about Sarah Playforth's experience as a deaf person of using the Merlin app

To learn more about bird song - take a look here