Spring is the time that birds on Blacka take centre stage. With that in mind we joined the organised morning Bird Walk with Jim Clark whose ability to pick out and identify various species from the slightest sound is remarkable. He also has a good judgement of the relative musical merits of different birds which I've not always found with twitchers. I've always had more time for the small songbirds than larger characters like grouse whose vocal expressions can be tedious. But each I suppose has its place in the sound world and natural orchestra that can be heard on a good day at this time of year. After all a good jazz group has the genuine improvisers on the front line, the robins and blackbirds, supported by the more predictable cuckoos and jackdaws comparable to bass and drums with various calls in between. The perfect natural musical experience in an ideal woodland acoustic is a quest for this season.
On Sunday we heard and/or saw garden warbler, grasshopper warbler, tree pipit, stonechat, reed bunting and many others. But no blackcaps - until Monday morning when two appeared a little lower down.
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