May mornings are a gorgeous wake up. I am always a little obsessed by birdsong in May. If I need to get up early I like a few minutes in the yard just listening to the chitter chatter of birds starting their day. Just hearing the dawn chorus has always been enough but a curious family connection has brought me a new Birdsong Identification App on my phone. It was developed by Cornell University, there is a tissue thin family connection which makes my ears prick up when Cornell pops up when I listen to nerdy things on the radio. The Merlin Bird App was mentioned on the radio a while ago, I downloaded it and now I know who is chattering to me with my cup of tea.

Merlin | Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology https://share.google/DWioV2UHIcqMJgkwP

Of course bird listening is no longer confined to the morning cup of tea ritual. I walked back from the tidal pool 2 days ago and caught 6 birds, all unseen, nattering away.

Any person walking the same path 400 years ago would have heard a similar mix.

The European Herring Gull is the most bombastic. Has to make its conversation the least interesting and loudest. If a European Herring Gull was at a party I would certainly avoid her.

” Oh dear Herring Gull has arrived, nobody else will get a word in edgeways”

” Far too fond of her own voice, and her kids have already swiped all the pasties”

” No wonder her husband spends all his time at sea”

I have no idea if this character assassination is ornithologically correct, and the whole party idea is fairly flawed. But give a woman a new app and who knows where her mind will take her.