Join the chorus: wake up and seek solace in birdsong
Time at home inspires a new generation to engage with the bird life in their gardens, writes Anna Tyzack
Never before has the spring dawn chorus prompted so much tweeting. Social media is already inundated with posts about birdsong; even Boris Johnson took time to appreciate red kites, buzzards and woodpeckers as he recovered from illness at Chequers.
Today is International Dawn Chorus Day, when birdsong reaches its crescendo. But with less road noise and fewer planes, it’s as if birdsong is amplified this year. “It’s always been there in the background,” Megan McCubbin, a zoologist and television presenter, reminds us. “But now we’ve got more time and space to notice the environment around us.
“It’s breeding season, which couldn’t be a better time to appreciate birdsong; there’s the wistful tune of robins at dusk and the wrens with their long bursts of song ending in a machine-gun rattle.”
Inspired by birdsong-related posts on social media, McCubbin and her stepfather, naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham, set up the SelfIsolating Bird Club (@SIBirdClub) a few weeks ago and have since amassed more than 45,000 followers. Meanwhile, more than 11,000 new bird enthusiasts have signed up to the British Trust for Ornithology’s Garden Birdwatch scheme (@BTO_GBW), a 30 per cent increase in membership. Thousands are joining in the RSPB breakfast birdwatch, posting pictures and videos with the hashtag #BreakfastBirdwatch from 8am to 9am each day.
“It’s lovely to see a community arising out of such a negative situation,” says McCubbin. “Birds have become an unexpected catalyst for engagement and connection during our isolation.”
Wildlife blogger Lucy Hodson, who works for the RSPB, is not surprised that birds have become the singing heroes of lockdown. There was already a birdwatching craze taking off among the younger generation, she says.
“Birdwatching sounds geeky but it’s so satisfying – it’s exercise, it’s knowledge, it’s like everything David Attenborough does on his shows but you can do it in your own garden,” she adds.
When she was younger, the birdwatchers she encountered in nature reserves were always white middle-aged men with beards, but young enthusiasts such as 17-year-old Mya-Rose Craig (@BirdGirlUK) and 14-year-old Indy Kiemel Greene (@GreeneIndy) are introducing a new generation to the joys of ornithology.
Birdwatching is also beneficial for mental health, adds Faye Vogely from the British Trust for Ornithology. Studies show that birdsong is connected to lower stress levels and heart rates, with patients in hospital faring better when they hear it. “Birdwatching is a mindful activity; it uses all the senses and allows the brain a moment’s peace during this stressful time,” she says. “I’ve positioned my home office where I can see and hear birds.”
Usually in spring, Hodson would head to a nature reserve but this year, confined to her small urban garden, she has already recorded 24 species, including multiple types of tit, goldfinches and greenfinches. Now she is on the lookout for her favourite, the swift, which will arrive from Africa this month.
“They’re the fastest level flying bird in the world and they nest in the cavities of people’s roofs,” she says. “You can’t miss them – they form a screaming party in the early evening and go out as a gang.” Those with country gardens, meanwhile, can start looking out for great spotted woodpeckers, skyhawks, tawny owls and nuthatches.
Birdsong reaches fever pitch round about now. Hodson suggests trying to recognise the shoutiest birds first – species such as blackbirds and robins, which start singing earliest in the morning and are the last to go to bed. There are ways, she says, to remember songs. The great tit appears to say “teacher, teacher” and the chiffchaff simply repeats its name.
Learning the songs is often an easier way to record birds than trying to spot them; chiffchaffs and willow warblers look similar when seen from a distance. If you are unsure of a birdsong, record it and tweet to the RSPB or the Self-Isolating Bird Club and you will have an answer back within minutes, says Hodson.
At £6.99, the eGuide to British Birds (available via app stores) is also a good investment, she adds, as it features both pictures of garden birds and recordings of their songs.
Of course, there’s a danger that birds will be forgotten again once normal life returns. “Birdwatching is like any habit, it takes a while to form. The longer lockdown lasts, the more ingrained it will become in people’s lives,” Vogely says.
Over the past few weeks, she has been contacted by families getting into birdwatching, as well as young people wanting to set up clubs.
“We’ve recruited a youth advisory panel of 16 to 24-year-olds to help us engage with this generation while they are at home,” she says.
There’s no need to simplify birding for young people, adds Hodson, as they’re so good at grasping it: “Encourage them to make a bird feeder or bath; they’ll be more likely to keep up the hobby if they get results.”
Even if the appetite for ornithology wanes once life becomes busier again, Vogely is convinced that the craze will have been invaluable to the Garden Birdwatch scheme.
“With so much more data, we’re going to get a more comprehensive picture of Britain’s bird life,” she says. For years to come, she is certain that people will associate this time with hearing the dawn chorus. “I’d like to think we’ll remember that nature and birdsong helped us through this,” she says. “And make more of an effort to include it in our lives.”