Alone with the Dawn Chorus

Morning has broken

Waking early the other day, I suddenly decided get up and listen to the dawn chorus. Opening the patio door wide I sat there ready to enjoy. I was in for a magical moment: 

All is quiet in the surrounding houses with only the odd noise of traffic. To be alone like this in the stillness is a delightful experience. I can begin to feel I’m hearing Eden’s echoes amidst the stillness and untarnished beauty of that first morning.

‘Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird’

‘All is hush’d and the heart listens‘  — I have a front seat in the ‘stalls’ and I’m ready and listening.

At 4.15 am the dawn chorus opens with a blackbird whistling in a neighbouring garden, followed by the responses from other blackbirds in the surrounding area of the village. Soon a whole host of different songs begin to ring out around me. I’m very surprised to realise how many birds there are here.

If you haven’t heard the Dawn Chorus recently go online to hear a recording. It might inspire you to get up early too !

The ever-present robins join the blackbirds, soon followed by the little wrens with their powerful voices. The quieter songs of the dunnocks add their undertone with the general accompaniment of blue and great tits. Not to be out-done the different finches add their contribution.

Everyone seems to want a part in this wonderful lyrical rhapsody. I can also identify a willow warbler. (How amazing to have this small bird in neighbouring gardens all the way from Africa !).  All through, I’m conscious of the constant soft ‘cooing’ of the wood pigeons in the background.

As the volume increases, I soon lose track of the individual songs as the flow of impassioned melody grows. But after about 30 minutes the volume begins to fade. A thrush, coming late to the concert, makes the most of this opportunity for a solo on its own. Its beautiful voice echoes around.

With the increasing light the calm is restored as breakfast beckons for the birds – and an early cup of tea for me.

Our back garden full of trees (our neighbours’ and our own) creates a sort of ‘edge-of-woodland’ effect – ideal for birds and the Dawn Chorus.

A Magical Moment

It’s a magical moment and I sit enchanted by the glorious sound. The familiar village and the surrounding gardens are transformed into another world. Something wonderful is coming out of the ordinary. This is sublime ethereal music. It’s as if I’m part of it all. 

How wonderful that all this glorious sound is brought to me here, right to my open patio door. I haven’t had to go and search for it.

I’m left with a deep sense of calm and well-being. I’ve been enriched and inspired with nature’s beauty once again.  An inner glow of having witnessed another moment of glory goes with me into the day. This has been ‘Listening with the Heart‘ indeed.

In February in ‘No Silent Spring Please’  I voiced the fears of a silent spring. Today’s experience sets such concerns reassuringly to rest, for the time being at least.

What waste – all this performance passing most of us by unnoticed as we sleep. How many dawn choruses have I missed already this spring? I think this calls for some more early rising soon !