Sharon Boardman - Wildlife - 21 February 2009 (From Worcester News)

Sharon Boardman - Wildlife - 21 February 2009

10:45am Monday 23rd February 2009 in

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A LADY in Pershore rang me the other day and asked if it was possible that a nightingale was singing outside her window during the night. She added that it had such a beautiful and passionate song and that it kept her awake not knowing which bird it was.

Although it would certainly have been exciting with a crooning nightingale outside the bedroom window, I told her that the most likely candidate of nocturnal song is the robin, not a nightingale.

But she is not at all alone in assuming she was hearing a nightingale when in fact it's the resident robin, and we often get similar enquires at our office.

The robin is one of the few birds in the UK that sings all year round, and both the male and female sing. In fact, they only stop singing for a short period in late summer during the energyconsuming period of moult.

As with the nightingale, the song is usually delivered from a concealed perch within a bush or a tree.

Autumn and spring songs are distinctly different. The autumn song is rather subdued and melancholic in its tone, while the spring song is powerful, passionate and upbeat.

The spring song can start as early as mid-December, reaching full force in spring. Its purpose is two-fold: to proclaim ownership of his garden and to attract a mate.

Therefore, spring song is far more powerful in males.

He sings with greatest passion early in the morning just before sunrise, when feeding is usually the least productive and his melodies travel farther in the calm air of dawn.

Robins are adapted to life in poor light and are often active in halflight when few other birds are about. They tend to be among the earliest birds to start the dawn chorus and one of the last to stop in the evening.

Street lights and floodlights can trigger singing in the middle of the night, and if roosting robins are disturbed, they can burst into song even in complete darkness.

So if you hear a songster in the night, especially at this time of the year, it’s probably that same robin that follows you in the garden during the day when you are out gardening. But it doesn’t make the song any less beautiful.

Read more about robins, nightingales and all the other birds at www.rspb.org.uk