On the moor we peer
Down into the fields,
Gorse hedges like
Shaven sideburns,
Small yellow pea flowers
Greet us. In the valley,
The sound of ravens
Carries, their voices
Meet us on the road,
Never their shape.
The inner-life of the
Moor is a little croak
From a big crow:
Kronk, kronk,
Kronk.
First time I’ve heard this iconic and declining bird. Listen for the machine gun fire of drips and drops. Also the ‘whee-whee-wheeee’ wheezy call. There are a few warblers in the background which might confuse things.
The habitat you can see is coppiced birch trees with a few maturing sessile oaks in the background. Birch trees can be cut right down to the base on a cycle of between 7-12 years or so and they will grow back vigorously. This creates the dense vegetation that the naturally elusive – to the eyes – nightingale depends on to breed. Blean also holds one of England’s few colonies of heath fritillary butterfly which will benefit from the sunlight reaped by coppicing.
The eternal struggle. Near Kenley, April 2013.
There’s an outside chance this beautiful migrant bird could be breeding in south-east London.
Delighted to have this migrant songbird drop in to my local patch
One Tree Hill, London
