In for a tweet on bird watching walk

Wood pigeons

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This weekend sees the launch of ‘Wild About Rochdale’ a campaign set up as part of the International Year of Biodiversity to find out more about wildlife in the area and to help record it.

To kick start the programme of events, a series of Dawn Chorus Day bird watching walks have been organised by the Hollingworth Lake Visitor Centre.

Rochdale Online reporter Laura Wild went along to one of the walks - find out how it went…

It was just after 5.30 this morning when I arrived at the visitors centre, I had been before but at that time in the morning it was different. The car park was empty, the sun was shining and the birds were singing.

I wondered what the walk would bring, how many birds would I see or hear?

I went into the visitors centre where I was met by three ladies who had been out on a walk at 4am. Friends Jacqui Whitehead, Joan Cook and Judith Mustow ventured out in the dark to hear the birds come alive as the sun began to shine.

Joan Cooke said: “I have never done anything like this before, but I really enjoyed it and it was definitely worth getting up for.”

By 6.00am the entire group of walkers had arrived, including me there were ten of us in total.

Jim Taylor, trustee of the Friends of Hollingworth Lake, was our tour guide; he explained he just wants people to know what is on offer.

“It is immense what is on offer here; Hollingworth Lake is a fabulous place in the morning. It is very early but I like to make the most of the peace and quiet.

“You don’t need to be experienced to have a good time, you don’t need to know what the birds are called I can tell you that,” Jim told us just before we set off.

Shortly after 6.00am we set off on our bird watching walk, we headed towards the bottom of the visitors car park in the direction of the pond – along the way we stopped to see birds in the trees and Mr Taylor also pointed out which birds were making which noises.

Most of the birds were high up in the trees; the best way to see them was through a telescope, although they never stayed still for long.

Along the way I saw a chaffinch, a willow warbler, a green finch, a green woodpecker, a song thrush and I heard the most magical sounds.

At one of the stop points I closed my eyes, I could feel the sun beaming on my face and with the birds tweeting away in the background I almost forgot where I was, it felt like a dream world somewhere new and tranquil.

Mr Taylor explained where the different birds came from, for example, the willow warbler migrates from Africa. I also saw some bird nests, which in most trees actually look quite camouflaged.

In the woods I saw a sparrow hawks' nest which had fallen to the ground, probably due to the bad winter weather. In it were the bones of other birds the sparrow hawks had eaten.

I also saw some of the bird boxes which have been built in the trees; Mr Taylor explained that on the day he put them up he hadn’t even got to the bottom of the ladder before birds were flying in to ‘inspect’ them.

Before I knew it the two hours was up and we had returned to the visitors centre. Not only had I had a very early and refreshing morning walk in such a beautiful place, I had also learnt about different birds and seen some amazing sights through the telescope.

Just as the ladies told me when I arrived, it was definitely worth getting out of bed for.

The Dawn Chorus interesting facts:

Why do birds sing at dawn?
Birds sing at dawn because it is quiet. Singing at dawn is thought to be 20 times more effective than singing at midday when there is more background noise. The fuss dies down when it is light enough to find some breakfast.

How do birds sing?
Birds have a syrinx which works like our vocal cords. What is special is that some birds, such as the song thrush, can sing more than one note at a time.

Do some birds sing earlier than others?
Some birds do start singing very early in the morning. Robins, song thrushes and blackbirds are always among the first to start.

For a full list of events at Hollingworth Lake Visitor Centre visit Rochdale Online Events