Getting out and About this Spring

This picture is remarkable – to find out why, read on.

This is my favourite time of the year – mainly because of all of the bird song that our Spring migrant birds bring with them. Our resident robins, dunnocks, chaffinches, great tits and wrens are in full song. And this year especially, goldfinches seem to be singing everywhere. One of the best, of course, is the song thrush. But sadly this is heard much less often than it used to be.

But it is the Spring migrants that really make the next few weeks special. The first nightingale, the first blackcap, the first whitethroat – gradually the mosaic of sound builds to a peak in May and then slowly declines. So, if you can, get out there! In the garden, a park, Gravesend Promenade or a local wood. Almost anywhere will have a range of singing birds. Following my own advice I have taken every opportunity to get out and listen (and watch) in the last few weeks. I even had my hearing aids retuned especially. But what is remarkable about the group picture above? We have all agreed where the bird is and we are all looking in the same direction! That is very unusual. What is not unusual is that none of us saw the bird – a nightingale in full song. So I will have to show you a singing whitethroat, which we did see.

This group picture is more typical of our group – with absolutely no consensus on where to look or what to look at!

But that is typical for Spring. With new life all about us.

Have a look at our group programme and join us this Spring.

Thanks to Steve and Terry for the photographs.

Malcolm