Adrian Thomas - RSPB Guide to Birdsong

BLOOMSBURY WILDLIFE

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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This electronic edition published in 2019 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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First published in the United Kingdom, 2019

Copyright Adrian Thomas, 2019

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Contents

PART 1

An Introduction to Bird Songs and Calls

Introduction

When I was a child, my dad was the volunteer warden of a woodland nature reserve in Worcestershire. Each year in early May, he would lead guided walks in the evening. As each gathering of strangers made their way along the darkening paths, listening to the Robins and Song Thrushes sing their final refrains of the day, we all shared a palpable sense of anticipation.

When we reached our destination a secluded glade we would stand as though on hallowed ground, waiting, holding our breaths. At last, the main act would begin, cutting through the darkness: the song of the Nightingales (above). If luck were with us, they would perform with such power, control and creativity that people would well, I dont use this word often: theyd swoon.

Such experiences remind me how lucky we are. It seems little short of a miracle that one group of wildlife the birds have evolved to make such elaborate, musical sounds that, to our ears, are so fascinating, so entrancing and at times so exquisitely beautiful. Frogs croak, bees hum and grasshoppers chirrup but none of them pour forth their soul in such an ecstasy (as Keats extolled in his Ode to a Nightingale). Birdsong is the natural soundtrack to our lives; it can evoke a sense of place, a moment, a time of day, a year or a season. However, actually getting to grips with birdsong and recognising which bird is making which sound can be seen as something of a dark art: impenetrable, unfathomable, a foreign language beyond our comprehension. Unable to make sense of it, too many people let birdsong wash over them.

But having spent more than 40 years of my life engrossed in the world of birds, I felt that there was more that could be done to help people tune in to their sounds and decode their secrets. The rewards for the effort are enormous. Those who take the time to learn will notice many more birds. By hearing more, you see more and understand more. Learning these sounds can give you insight into how each bird is feeling, and what it is trying to tell other birds around it. Bird sounds enliven your day and are a pleasant distraction from the daily grind.

More than anything, as with those evening Nightingale walks, birdsong can bring you joy, and that is what I really wanted to share. So I got out my old tent from the loft, picked up my rather large microphone, headed out into beautiful, wild places across the UK, and this book and the accompanying recordings are the results.

How to use this guide

Over the years Ive met a few people who seem to possess a supernatural ability to hear the faintest squeak and whistle from birds that would otherwise go unseen and unnoticed, and to know what bird was making the sound in an instant.

On the other hand, Ive met many, many more for whom bird sounds are a real challenge. Indeed, some people just dont know where to start. This book and its accompanying recordings are for all of you! See for information on how to access your complimentary digital download of the recordings.

The book is divided into three parts. The first two parts are akin to a learning course, to be taken at your own speed, and they run in tandem with the recordings and narration.

is all about training your ear in how to listen, and giving you the vocabulary and techniques to describe any bird sound. At this stage, dont worry which bird is making which sound that will come later.

In , we identify 65 species of bird based on their songs and calls. This will help you to recognise the vast majority of sounds that we hear in towns and villages, woodland and the countryside.

So find 510 minutes every day or so, sit down somewhere quiet, either with the book or the recordings or preferably both together. Then work your way through, track by track, reading the text in these first two parts of the book, listening to the narration, replaying each recording as often as you need to and moving on when you feel ready.

Finally, website.

Lets start at the very beginning

It might be tempting to skip the introductory parts of this book and get straight to the species-by-species sections. However, I encourage you to start with the opening chapters and the corresponding tracks on the recording. Get these basics in place, and everything else will be that much easier.