This RVCWG event was held in conjunction with the Rea Valley Big Green Day in Pontesbury and was led by Paul Maddox, a RVCWG member and local birder. It was also held the day before International Dawn Chorus Day which is a worldwide celebration of nature’s greatest symphony.
A group of 15 people gathered at the Pontesford Hill car park at 9:30am ready to learn all about birdsong. It was several hours after the peak dawn chorus which made it easier to pick out individual birds singing. We started by walking through the woodland and listening out for the different types of birds we could hear. Paul gathered us together to teach us all about why and how birds sing. We listened to the range of birds singing around us and Paul pointed out which sounds were coming from which species. To start with we listened to the Blackbirds, Robins, Chiff Chaffs, Woodpigeons and Blackcaps.
We continued through the woodland and Paul highlighted the high pitch sound of the Goldcrest and the ‘sneeze’ of the Marsh tit. Paul led a ‘man v’s Merlin’ challenge where we all used the Merlin app to see how many bird species were recorded by A.I. in 2 minutes versus how many birds Paul could hear. It was fun and it showed us how useful the Merlin app can be to support with birdsong ID, but also showed us how it can miss species and gets things wrong. The Merlin app is a great tool to support with bird ID, but it should be used alongside what you can hear and see for yourselves.
We continued to learn more birdsong, listening to the scratchy tune of the Garden Warbler and the descending song of a Willow Warbler. We walked back via the meadows and heard the ‘laughing’ of the green woodpecker and we were all treated to great views of Redstart singing as a couple of Red Kites flew over.
It was a lovely walk, with a total of 27 bird species recorded on our walk. Thank you to Paul for sharing his knowledge of birdsong with the group.
