LARKS ASCENDING OVER SPRING MOORS AND TORS

What better way to experience the exuberance of nature than to immerse yourself in spring birdsong? According to the British Trust for Ornithology, there are currently 251 species of breeding wild birds in the UK, and spring is the best time of year to hear them sing.

SPRING SINGERS

Choral performance requires energy but in spring it is an important element of the breeding cycle. In the bird world, if you can’t sing heartily, you don’t get the best territory or mate, and you can’t defend your nest. Of course, not all birdsong is melodious to human ears but a dawn or dusk chorus can be truly uplifting.

Even in our cities, birds surround us. Standout garden singing stars include robins and blackbirds but if you have hedgerows, you might also hear tiny wrens, whose song belies their size,