Kingston cemetery dawn chorus
Today is Internation Dawn Chorus day and I left the house at 4.30am to listen to the birds in the local cemetery. Starting almost exclusively with blackbirds, robins joined at 4.45, followed by wrens (and the odd woodpigeon). A pair of mallard flew over as the jackdaws started to rouse (possibly stirred by the noise of a helicopter) from the acacia/sycamore 'woodland' along the Hogsmill. The Hogsmill river was the source of the most concentrated choir and song thrushes could be heard from both sides of the river. They have bounced back since the only new recruit was taken by a cat five years ago. As the dawn sky brightened, a low flying pipistrelle flew north, followed by a higher larger bat at 5.00 a.m. Synchopated sound along the river amounted to ten wren territories, with many more in the matrix (along with 5 blackcaps). mallard The jackdaw exodus to the chimney pots of New Malden was followed by a crassula of green parakeets, drowning out the 11 black