Dawn Chorus Kingston Cemetery
Yesterday was Internation Dawn Chorus day and I left the house at 4.40am to listen to the birds in the local cemetery. Starting almost exclusively with blackbirds (8), robins (19) followed by wrens (17) and the odd woodpigeon (5). Territory numbers are in brackets. Most of the territories were associated with the boundary features, especially along the Hogsmill river, where most of the wrens were located. The upper cemetery is always better for birds than the lower portion, although there are house sparrows near the Dawson Road Gate. Of the larger birds: jackdaws passed to- and- fro constantly, with crows largely being sedentary, three nests apparent from up-sticking tails. Two magpies did not appear to be breeding. No raptors were seen this year although buzzards are frequently seen overhead later in the day. Daisies were tightly shut. A watery dunnock song lisped from two sites with a third heard from the compost heap later in the day. Numbers of song thrush were down ...