Song thrush

Near Fiveways, there is a male song thrush that begins to sing in January. He sits high up in his territory, often on the topmost branch of a tree, and once he gets going you can hear him all over the reserve.

Listen for the repetitions that he uses, it’s one way of distinguishing his song from a blackbird’s. Tradition maintains that he repeats certain phrases three times but he actually repeats them anywhere between two and six times.

Recorded by David Bisset in Essex UK (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 DEED) xeno-canto.org

Song thrush song, no matter how sweetly sung, is all about sex and war. It is a challenge and a warning to other males who might try to steal his territory, and an invitation for females to come and mate with him and have his babies because he is the biggest and the best song thrush around.

Listen out for him as you pass the picnic place. It’s early yet but he will be tuning up soon.