A Dawn Chorus at Arnos Vale

By: Felicia Smith

As dawn rose over the sleeping city, a group of visitors gathered expectantly at the cemetery.

The atmosphere was magical, the air thick with intricate birdsong.

As we wiped the sleep from our bleary eyes, ecologist and experienced dawn-riser Mike Dilger explained the need for such an early start. Dawn is the ideal time to hear spring bird song – the cold clear air means notes travel further and more crisply, so the male birds can get down to doing what they do best – staking out their territory to rival males and advertising themselves to the females before settling down to mate.

One by one, the different species of birds were waking at the cemetery, allowing Mike to pick out each of the distinctive calls and tell us more about their owners.

First were the wrens and easily identifiable “chiff-chaff” call of the - you’ve guessed it - chiff chaffs. Followed by robins, blackbirds, black caps and white throats, and the wonderfully named garden warbler. All mixing their melodic song with the less musical wood pigeons and crows. The rising sun cast beautiful pools of light and shadow, as we wove along the wooded paths, startling jays and magpies along the way. Eventually we reached the open grassland of the top plateau. There Mike enthusiastically pointed out a discrete silhoette hopping in one of the trees – a Spotted Flycatcher – the first Mike had seen this year and “the best find of the day!”

After a restorative cup of tea in the early-opening cafe, the group embarked on a final forage, rewarded by a group of swifts skimming the trees for insects and the elegant display flight of a sparrowhawk overhead.

What a way to start the weekend!

Miss the Dawn Chorus Guided Tour with Mike Dilger?  You can see him again in the Anglican Chapel at Arnos Vale Cemetery on Saturday 18th June.  A "clash of the titans" when ecologist Mike Dilger squares up to archaeologist Mark Horton in the BIG Debate.  This event is chaired by Darren Hall of the Bristol Green Capital.  Tickets are £10 / £7.50 (concessions) and includes a glass of wine or juice.  This promises to be a very lively, entertaining, fun and interesting evening and certainly not one to be missed.