Nice cup of tea, accompanied by birdsong

MY attention is often (perhaps that should read ‘always’) distracted by birdsong.

I can’t ignore what our feathered friends are trying to tell me – which is, to my ears anyway, their name.

Their complicated messages are obviously lost in translation, but what I do hear, apart from the inspiring sounds themselves, is ‘I’m a bullfinch’, ‘I’m a song thrush’, ‘I’m a starling’… or whatever species their song might indicate.

That is when I do recognise them, of course. And whenever I hear something out of the ordinary, I sit up and take note.

Which is what happened when I paid a recent visit with my wife to the Heron Valley cafe near Loddiswell in south Devon.

We had just bought a rug at the adjoining Weaver Green store (and what an amazing company it is, recycling plastic bottles into beautiful woven textiles) and decided to have tea sitting at one of the Heron Valley cafe tables amid olive trees on the outside courtyard.

From here one can gaze out at the rows of apple trees in blossom and over the scenic rolling fields beyond.

I could hear linnets twittering from the orchard opposite and even a yellowhammer.

Then halfway through my second cup of tea, I noticed an urgent, scratchy birdsong coming from the thick hedgerows nearby.

My wife could tell that my attention had wandered mid-conversation. But, if I was correct, this birdsong was not something I expected to hear: a sedge warbler (above).

This is a species which you normally find in damp places, such as reedbeds. The last time I saw one was at a wetland nature reserve. However, they do turn up in thickets elsewhere.

I couldn’t spot the singer to confirm my suspicions and it soon fell silent, but I felt fairly sure it was indeed a sedge warbler – a little brown bird with a creamy white eyebrow, which flies all the way from sub-Saharan Africa to breed in Britain every spring and summer.

As shopping trips go, it’s not often one enjoys the bonus of plentiful birdlife thrown in for good measure. And what better way to enjoy it than from the comfort of an outdoor table with a slice of toasted banana bread and a nice cup of tea.