Dawn Chorus with the Piddlehinton Living Churchyard

On Saturday 14th March, a group of people from the Piddle Valley met in Piddlehinton Churchyard at 6 am to listen to the dawn chorus.

The night was cold but clear, with many stars and a large golden crescent moon just skimming along the horizon. As the day began to dawn we heard the early birds, blackbird and robin.

Gradually more birds joined in to create a complex chorus of song. There were 21 bird species recorded and I’ve been asked by a few people to let them know which these were.

Here they are in the approximate order in which they started to sing:

• Blackbird
• Robin
• Pheasant
• Rook
• Wood pigeon
• Jackdaw
• Wren
• Blackcap
• Carrion crow
• Chiff chaff
• Great tit
• Greenfinch
• Collared dove
• Dunnock
• Goldcrest
• Magpie
• Sparrow
• Song thrush
• Coal tit
• Meadow pipit
• Goldfinch