Symphony of Bird Song

By Rachel Ollerenshaw, May/June 2023.

“Better than the sound of silence, only the singing of birds” - Aerton Guimarães

How many times have you wondered what little bird is chirruping away in the trees or bushes?

Recently, Lee has led a birdsong walk in the Cotgrave Country Park to help members of the public identify the sounds of some of our park birds by taking the time to stop and listen.

As part of the walk the difference between a bird call and bird song was discussed. A call is a short-duration vocalisation that is simple in structure whereas, a song tends to be more complex and of longer duration usually uttered by a breeding-age male. Calls tend to be produced during courtship or in response to seeing a predator, in contrast, songs convey more information and usually used by males to mark territory.

As well as this it was discussed how birds produce their vocal sounds, which are made by the syrinx (a unique bird organ) which uses air that comes through the windpipe to vibrate thin membranes and produce sound.

Along the way we were able to identify 15 bird species including dunnock, reed and sedge warbler, song thrushes, chiffchaff, chaffinch, blue tit, blackcap, whitethroat, robin, and wren.

Our next Birdsong walk in the Country Park is on the 6th June 2023! Don't forget to keep an eye out for future events here: The Friends of Cotgrave Country Park event tickets from TicketSource .

Find out more about bird song identification here: Bird Song and Call Identification for Beginners - Woodland Trust .

Or use our common passerine species found in this sheet on your next walk to have a go yourself bird songs and calls .

(Photos are to illustrate examples of birds heard in the park, but have not been taken in the Cotgrave Country Park itself. If you have any photos of birds taken in Cotgrave Country Park you would like for us to showcase please get in touch via Facebook or email.)

Symphony of Bird Song

By Rachel Ollerenshaw, May/June 2023.

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