Dawn Chorus

I got up at 4:15 this morning to drive to Sculthorpe Moor for a Dawn Chorus walk starting at 5. This was the scene as we walked out to the reserve, with the sun appearing over the horizon. 

It was an excellent event, the walk leader was a great teacher, very enthusiastic, entertaining and dramatic and made characters out of each bird singing to help us remember its song. So the Great Tit sounds like a boring politician, the Chiff Chaff sounds like a bit of a drunk and the Whitethroat sounds like an angry person who writes to the newspaper. The Reed Warbler is very introverted with a strait laced and predictable song, whereas the Sedge Warbler has a similar song, but is extrovert and can't help breaking out into a jazz riff. 

I could only recognise about three birds by their song before the walk, so hopefully I've added a few more to that list. We heard about 30 different birds species and also saw a deer. The two and a quarter hour walk was followed by sausage, bacon and egg rolls and tea and coffee - and all for £10. It was a great event and I'll probably go along next year to learn some more.