 For The Wildlife Trusts’ Vice President Bill Oddie, it’s the sound of the grasshopper warbler. Bill said: "The song of the grasshopper warbler, which can last throughout the night, is high pitched and sounds a bit like a fishing rod being reeled in! Listen out for it on the edges damp, grassy fields or reedbeds."
For Peter Graves, warden at Snipe Dales in the Lincolnshire Wolds, it’s the mistle thrush: "It’s also known as the stormcock because it sings in windy and stormy weather. It’s a big song that can be heard from a long way away."
At one of the Trusts’ newest reserves, Willow Tree Fen, yellowhammers can be heard singing. For Project Officer Marcus Craythorne, this is one of his favourites: "It’s a lovely song and a good one to pass onto children because it’s so easy to remember by the phrase ‘little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese’ - which it sounds like its singing."
For Mark Schofield, the Project Officer for the road-side verge based Life on the Verge project, it’s the blackbird with its "mellifluous song with its laid-back jazzy lilt. Blackbirds can be seen feeding in the hedgerows of road verges and at the making daredevil-like low swoops over carriageways and between cars."
For Matthew Blissett, the Trust’s North-West Lincolnshire Warden, its "listening to the whole of the dawn chorus and picking out individual species – the easily recognised cuckoo, the tiny wren that that makes so much noise, the beautiful song of the blackbird, as well as those more difficult to distinguish. Starting up at four in the morning: everyone is still in bed, unaware that the birds are singing."
Whatever your favourite bird song might be, nothing beats the stunning combination that makes the dawn chorus, a chiming celebration of spring that rings through the skies each day as the season begins. To make the most of this natural phenomenon, The Wildlife Trusts celebrate International Dawn Chorus Day (IDCD) on the first Sunday in May each year – Sunday 2 May in 2010.
Joining your local Wildlife Trust for an IDCD event can give you the best chance of hearing some of the more specialist species, such as Bill Oddie’s favourite.
International Dawn Chorus Day with the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust
Make sense of what you are hearing with experts will be on hand to help you identify which call belongs to which bird, and why they are calling.
International Dawn Chorus Day at Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve
Sunday 2 May, 4am
£7.50 including a full English breakfast. Payment in advance is needed.
Advance booking is essential on 01754 898057
Location: approximately three miles south of Skegness. Signposted from Skegness.
International Dawn Chorus Day at Snipe Dales Nature Reserve
Sunday 2 May, 4.30am
Free, no booking required
Location: Entrance is off the B1195 Horncastle-Spilsby road. Signposted from the A158 Skegness-Lincoln road
Nightingale Morning Chorus at Whisby Nature Park
Sunday 2 May, 6am
£2. Advance booking is essential through Natural World Visitor Centre on 01522 688868.
Location: approximately 5 miles from the centre of Lincoln. Signposted of the Lincoln relief road (A46).
Join one our other events where you can enjoy birdsong throughout May:
Nightingale Evening Chorus at Whisby Nature Park
Monday 3 May, 8pm
£2. Advance booking is essential on through Natural World Visitor Centre on 01522 688868.
Bittern Walk at Far Ings National Nature Reserve
Wednesday 26 May, 7pm - 9pm
Hopefully hear male bitterns booming and see the infamous creators of this haunting sound whilst the sun sets over the reserve.
£2.50. Advance booking is essential on 01652 637055
Visit Cleethorpes Country Park with the Grimsby and Cleethorpes Area Group
Saturday 29 May, 8.30am
Meet in the car park, grid ref TA306066
Summer Migrants Guided Walk at Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve
Sunday 30 May, 8.30am - 11.00am
Adults £2, Children £1. Advance booking is essential on 01754 898057
Dawn Chorus at Far Ings National Nature Reserve
Sunday 30 May, 4am
At Ness End Farm
Optional breakfast £5
If you can’t join us, just throw open your bedroom window in the early hours and absorb the atmosphere of the natural world!
Vine House Farm, which works in partnership with The Wildlife Trusts, is supporting IDCD in 2010 by offering a free suet block and feeder worth £5 to all those attending events registered on idcd.info when they place their first order for Vine House Farm bird food.
Details of all local Wildlife Trust’s IDCD events on The Wildlife Trusts’ website:
www.wildlifetrusts.org/index.php?section=events:spring:dawnchorusday
Or check out the official IDCD website for a comprehensive list of all events taking place at www.idcd.info
Download BBC dawn chorus guides
The BBC Breathing Places website offers dawn chorus resources to download, including a guided audio tour of the dawn chorus, and a dawn chorus pocket guide. Click here www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/downloads/ to visit the website.
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