robtherake
Well-known member
Maybe it's the time of year, with the sap rising and the birds and bees busy doing what they do, but at close of day (at my allotment, though it could be anywhere, which is why I've posted this here) the song of a few birds begins to swell until it's louder than the ambient noise from the nearby town. I take a radio to the garden, turned low, and went to raise the volume because it was getting difficult to hear the DJ, then twigged what was happening and turned it off to listen to the "evening chorus."
It's not the first time I've noticed this phenomenon, but it's certainly the most impressive example so far. The presence of so many areas of cover seems to give the birds a confidence boost, despite the occasional raid by a sparrowhawk from the wood, just a stone's throw away. There were robins, wrens, blackbirds, tits, warblers and finches, plus others that I couldn't identify from song alone. The singing swelled and swelled until it was an all-out attack on the senses, yet every distinct thread could be picked out individually. One of those life-affirming moments where you feel completely "plugged-in" to the natural world. Religion doesn't move me, but the phrase (a line of poetry,) "One is nearer to God's heart in a garden than any where else on Earth" was never so true. A spiritual experience, without a doubt.
It's not the first time I've noticed this phenomenon, but it's certainly the most impressive example so far. The presence of so many areas of cover seems to give the birds a confidence boost, despite the occasional raid by a sparrowhawk from the wood, just a stone's throw away. There were robins, wrens, blackbirds, tits, warblers and finches, plus others that I couldn't identify from song alone. The singing swelled and swelled until it was an all-out attack on the senses, yet every distinct thread could be picked out individually. One of those life-affirming moments where you feel completely "plugged-in" to the natural world. Religion doesn't move me, but the phrase (a line of poetry,) "One is nearer to God's heart in a garden than any where else on Earth" was never so true. A spiritual experience, without a doubt.