30 Days Wild. Day 1: a symphony in birdsong

For the last few years the Wildlife Trusts have been running a challenge to do something wild every day in June. I haven't signed up to it before because I tend to "do something wild" most days anyway, but this year I thought I'd have a go and record some of the little things I do each day. With lockdown, most of these things are likely to be in the garden.

Yesterday was Day 1. I sat in the garden for a few minutes with a cuppa and just listened to the birds. There was a whole orchestra performing. A Chaffinch was providing a constant background refrain, punctuated occasionally by the wheeze of a Greenfinch and the sudden and loud trilling of a Wren.

For such little birds, Wrens have a very loud voice. Our resident male wakes us up at around 5 o'clock most mornings before he gets on with the day's activities. We're pretty sure they are nesting in the garden, but we haven't seen where.

My favourite birdsong is that of the Blackbird. I could happily listen to it all day. Our Blackbird has been a reluctant singer. He's a young bird and seems to have a constant rivalry with an older bird, perhaps because he is so reluctant to sing and declare this his territory. The Blackbirds' first nest was raided by next door's cat, but they may now be trying again. The male has now started singing, a muted song at dawn and a more confident ballad in the evening, although still not every evening.

As I sat listening to these general declarations of territory, I heard the familiar "teacher teacher" of the Great Tit along with lots of high pitched calls. After a few minutes I realised this was a parent bird moving through with the kids! The young birds flew past me one at a time in a sort of lolloping flight, still getting used to their wings. The day before, we had seen a similar thing with a family of Blue Tits. The young Blue Tits had stayed around our patio area for a while, flopping from shrub to bush and making short, ungainly flights past us and back again.

We may be mostly confined to home still and unable to go to a lot of the places we enjoy, but as I watched the last of the young Great Tits disappear over the fence, I decided that, really, there's a lot to be enjoyed in our own back garden on a sunny day in June. As I finished my tea, a couple of Goldfinches flew in, accompanied by their wonderful bubbling call, a Dunnock started up in the hedge and overhead the Swallows swooped low, squeaking as they fed on insects.