Hush! Hush! Whisper Who Dares ....

.... Great Amwell Robin is saying his prayers.

I'd just got out of the car at Amwell Nature Reserve and started to walk towards the railway line when I heard very quiet birdsong. It was a robin, half-hidden by branches, singing its sub or whisper song. 

When I have seen and heard them do this in the past they have kept their beaks shut. As you can see in my pic, this one opened its beak but the sound coming out was very quiet. The feathers on its chest are raised, as if from the strain of stifling the volume.

It could be a young bird learning to sing or it could be a male proclaiming his territory.