Eggs, chirps and magical birdsong

It’s all a question of timing says Mike Stentiford

For those who keep a keen and extra special eye on nature’s seasonal appearances, news of the current fast but subtle forwarding of springtime is likely to come as no surprise.

According to ‘experts in the field’, the nesting of certain bird species is now ahead of the game by at least three weeks, the mischievous and expected culprit being climate change.

Discarding all thoughts of such climatic shenanigans, these past few weeks have retained the record as being the most industrious time of year for certain species of terrestrial bird.

Despite having an entire twelve months in which to carry out nesting and parental duties, we surely have to be in awe knowing of the overload of frenetic avian energy being squeezed into a strict allowance of just four critical weeks of procreation.

This narrow allocation of time is entirely due to the seasonal distribution of food parcels, nature’s way of offering parent birds a kind of supermarket dash, when as many edible goodies as possible are snapped up in double quick time. The fact that garden birds, in particular, are at the head of the queue in this respect, offers a valid reason why most of them might appear to be turning their backs on our fully laden, but evidently ‘must be avoided’ bird feeders.

Any perception we might have that birds have permanently deserted us is, of course, unfounded. The simple fact is that whatever seedy delicacy we tip into our bird feeders has no chance whatsoever of exciting a bird’s taste buds as much as a fat, juicy and highly nutritious grub or caterpillar.

However, this early summer calorierich bonus is short-lived and in no time at all, tits, finches and robins are likely to loyally renew membership of the ‘garden bird feeder fan club’.

One natural phenomenon that will assuredly be missed as the merry month of May makes its departure is the glorious sound of music emanating from the annual dawn chorus.

My personal thoughts are that this annual musical marvel should be recognised as an everyman’s privilege and, as such, should be officially endorsed as a public event.

Scant chance of this happening, of course, but as a truly remarkable natural aid to mental health and wellbeing, applying for a free ticket should be made a mandatory obligation. Sadly, for the avid bird listener, the vast majority of those members of springtime’s avian gospel choir will, by now, have all but disbanded and handed in their varied song sheets for another year. But that’s not to say that a handful of garden tunesmiths would miss the chance of a sporadic warble or ten as or when the fancy takes them.

Blackbirds, in particular, appear to sing way beyond the territorial call of normal duty and are often heard chatting up the females long after the breeding season is over and done with.

Likewise, robins take up something of a marathon singing challenge by musically performing the light fantastic almost throughout the entire year.

Admittedly, their soft and wistful tunes of winter have far less vibrancy and urgency than their springtime song but one surely has to credit them with full marks for persistence.

Whether nest building, egg laying or tuneful bursts of territorial birdsong, the overriding factor in all of this frenetic energy is the necessity of precision timing.

With the current subtle changes to the climate clock, nature has little recourse but to adapt as best it can which, by all accounts, it appears to be doing rather well.