Unexpectedly awake at 4.00 this morning, thanks to the
return of a son from the notorious nightspots of Norwich, I decided to make the
most of it and take the dawn chorus trip across the Common I had been
threatening myself with. As always, once up and out, it was wonderful at that
time of day: the air was clear and very still, but I had already missed the
dawn itself. Light was still bleeding into the sky however, and the growing noise of
birds reminding their neighbours of their presence was almost overpowering. It
certainly made it hard to pick out the tawny owl murmuring its own goodnight
somewhere in the distance.
At that time of day birds and mammals seem less timid;
perhaps because they are not used to seeing people until much later. Thus two
muntjac stood and watched me drive along Bramble Lane, before one of them
disdainfully turned and wandered into School Common. By the time I had wandered
through the woods to that point, there was no sign of it, but it may have been
the same deer that stood stock still on the central area of the Common as I
walked along the boardwalk almost an hour later. If only I had decided to bring
my camera in the rushed decision to go out, I would have had a good photo to
display here. I guess that like the pheasant lying flat out amongst the orchids
in that area, it hoped it was invisible.
The majority of the noise came from blackbirds, wrens and
the always welcome song thrush, but I also heard at least three chiffchaffs and
a similar number of blackcaps. I had a brief glimpse of a reed bunting, but no
singing at that stage from the reed bed. Nor did I hear a reed warbler, and
since I haven’t heard one on my last couple of visits I’m beginning to fear
that the bird that was singing a week or so ago may have moved on. As in the past couple of years, no sedge
warblers made themselves known, which is a real sadness. The willow warbler
that was singing a couple of weeks ago has also fallen silent.
Further along the boardwalk, near the Warren Road end, a
whitethroat was in good voice – or was it a lesser whitethroat? It wasn’t
showing itself, which is typical whitethroat behaviour, whilst skulking in the
bushes is what lesser whitethroats do, but the song itself was right for whitethroat.
Hmm…
Overhead, swifts, swallows, jackdaws and a solitary herring
gull checked in, and I was well aware as ever of the presence of wood pigeons,
collared doves and crowing pheasants. Less obtrusively, bullfinch, stock dove
and great spotted woodpecker all made cameo appearances, as did a small group
of long tailed tits.
All in all, an excellent hour’s bird watching.
If you have been across the Common in the middle of the day and felt there were
not many birds in evidence, an early morning stroll is greatly to be
recommended. I clocked up 29 bird species in my hour; you could do better
still. The full list is here:
