Jenny Shelton

I heard this burst of sound, so strong, so powerful, and absolute vocal gymnastics.

It sounds like it's swallowed a Mozart manuscript.

If you've ever gone out and listened to it, you know, it starts slow and as the sort of light turns up, the sound turns up as well, like an orchestra sort of tuning up.

Blackbirds and robins are the early singers, and it's believed that's because they have bigger eyes, so they can see more in that dim early light.

So then other birds with the smaller eyes come in later, like urens and finches, white-throated willow warblers.

They're all arriving back, many of them from Africa.

They've made these amazing journeys to get here, and then they're just singing their hearts out.

So in the clear morning air, birds can be heard.

You know, there's not as much traffic noise or other noises to compete with.

So that's one of the reasons they sing at dawn.

And the other reason is for safety.

So if you're singing very loudly, it's not a great idea if you're trying to stay hidden from predators.

So using that dim morning light just before the sun's come up allows a small, quite vulnerable bird to stay hidden and sing really loudly and tell all the other birds that they're there, but without advertising their presence too much to the neighbourhood sparrowhawk.

I'm Jenny Shelton.

I work for the Wildlife Trust.

We're a federation of 46 charities and one central charity working hard to protect the habitat that birds and other wildlife need to tackle the climate crisis and really make nature part of everybody's lives.

And a planet is changing, you know, the countryside and the landscapes around us are changing.

And that's having an effect on birds and nature.

And it's meaning that birdsong is dimming.

You know, our grandparents weren't just being nostalgic or even our parents, you know, weren't just being nostalgic when they came.