We’ve been watching the newly arrived summer migrants, chiffchaffs, willow warblers, blackcaps and whitethroats who have joined the swallows, house martins and swifts in Groombridge. They should be with us until the autumn although as a result of climate change increasing numbers are spending the winter in the UK. This is the time of year you will hear them singing to attract a mate. Using the Merlin birdsong app allows rapid identification. Here are a few recent photos of the blackcap (females and juveniles have a brown cap like this one in Groombridge-first three photos) and the Whitethroat (last two photos) both of which we are hearing around the Tanyard. A very welcome summer addition was a Nightingale which Merlin picked up a few days ago but I haven’t managed to verify with a photo. Please let us know if you hear one – they have the most unusual varied song (Merlin will play it to you) which once heard is not forgotten.
This is how James Duncan of Sussex Wildlife Trust describes it – he visited us last year to help with several Wild Groombridge projects.
“So, just how to describe Nightingale song? In truth many may feel somewhat shocked upon first hearing one sing, for a procession of rippling whistles, tweets, trills, gurgles, screeches and croaks may seem at odds with a songster of such magnificent standing. Ultimately it’s the dazzling range and simply mesmerising variety conjured by the Nightingale that serves to impress the most. …………….The song is always unique, phrases strung together to form a seemingly endless variety of compositions. …… It seems marvellously inventive, an intoxicating combination of fizzing energy, compelling restraint, theatrical drama and striking precision. Phrases within the song will typically last for just a few seconds, often with equal-length pauses in between. Once learnt, the Nightingale’s utterly unique style really can’t be confused with any other British bird. The Nightingale, in its song, undoubtedly produces one of the natural world’s most remarkable sounds.”
Phil
Wild Groombridge 