International Dawn Chorus Day

Spring is advancing at full throttle, with trees bursting into leaf and bluebells carpeting our woodland floors, and the birds are feeling perky and chirpy, particularly at dawn! International Dawn Chorus Day is the worldwide celebration of nature’s daily miracle.

Celebrated on the first Sunday of May, the story goes that International Dawn Chorus Day began in the 1980s when broadcaster and environmentalist Chris Baines asked everyone to attend his birthday party at 4am so they could enjoy the dawn chorus with him. Since then IDCD has grown from a small event in Birmingham UK to an annual international celebration with Dawn Chorus events held as far afield as the Caribbean and Antarctica.

The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country promotes International Dawn Chorus Day because the best way to generate support for nature conservation and understanding of the importance of the natural world to human well-being, is to get people to experience the wonders of the their local wildlife first-hand. Take a look at the International Dawn Chorus Day website to find an event near you, or just make a commitment to set your alarm to 4 am on Sunday.

Bundle yourself up in some warmies (it is pretty parky first thing and frosts are still a possibility), make yourself a big mug of something hot and head outside to feast your ears on one of the most beautiful sounds in the world, wherever you may be in it. Enjoy watching the sun rise and bask in the vibrancy of the new spring leaves as the sunlight dances upon them. Take a moment to cast your eye over the flowers and blossom that are blooming in abundance, all the while enjoying the birds’ serenade to spring.

Better still, were you to possess a Garden Escape, bed down in it on Saturday night, and let the breaking dawn and its choral accompaniment rouse you from your slumbers. Lie snuggled in the cosy interior and gaze out of your floor to ceiling height windows, watching your garden awaken and listening to the birds do their thing.

Dawn Chorus

I listened to the dawn chorus,
Birds were greeting the new day.
Were they singing praise to Horus,
As they had in Egypt’s ancient way.
Or were they glad to be alive,
As darkness turned to blessed light.
Feeding their fledglings so to thrive,
That they may too enjoy this thrilling sight.
Awakening to the early morning dew,
Feeling the warmth of the new sun.
A privilege granted to but a few,
For many the daylight do but shun.
I have listened to the bird’s greetings,
When all around was calm and still.
To me they were happy meetings,
That still gives me a tremendous thrill.

Bernard Shaw