Reflections
Thoughts · Daily PostInternational Dawn Chorus Day
Happy International Dawn Chorus Day! Sunday 3rd May 2020
Birds have inspired artists, poets and musicians for centuries, from Chaucer to Vaughn Williams and despite their worrying decline in numbers, it's a marvel that still so many fly millions of miles to be here each Spring.
International Dawn Chorus Day, held on the first Sunday of May is usually a celebration when all around the world, people rise with the lark to experience this natural wonder for themselves. This year you could rise extra early to do your daily exercise walk or simply open the window and let the chorus come to you ...
The best time to hear the whole symphony of birds is in the first hour after sunrise, which is expected to be around 4.50am.
If you oversleep, head onto the Wildlife Trusts website where you can listen to some wonderful birds online. Chris Packham will also be broadcasting Dawn Chorus Day Live on his Facebook and Twitter accounts from 7am.
Dawn Chorus by Ruthie Rose
'In darkness, we surrender as if by choice
To muted slumbers, in safe delight.
But it's the tiny blackbird that finds his voice
There in the daunting dead of night.
'His song cuts the silence, filling the sky
And from it, a spreading symphony is born.
Indeed, it's the fire in your spirit which must never die,
Let it sing, like the blackbird, at each new dawn.'