An early Nightingale - my earliest ever? - singing in Abbots Wood, nr Hailsham, around 250m south of the lake.

Many Chiffchaffs, Coal Tits and Great Spotted Woodpeckers calling, with a couple of Mistle Thrushes, Treecreepers and Siskins heard, and a single Firecrest singing.

A patch of Scarlet Elf Cups among the mosses and damp dead wood.

#SussexBirding ##Sussex #birding #ukspring

The song of the blackbird is mellow, unhurried and rich. It’s varied, but not exhaustingly so (hello, song thrush).

Ornithologist W H Hudson described it as ‘nearer to human music than any other bird song’, which leads us to notice that the register is lower that many other songbirds, in the range of human speech.

You can whistle along to a blackbird.

https://shriekoftheweek.substack.com/p/shriek-of-the-week-blackbird-221

#birdsong #ukspring