Llyn Berwyn mist at sunrise
It's 4am and the temperature is below freezing, but the day's early birdsong is already underway. In the glimmer of first light, a duck lands on the lake somewhere close by. Tawny Owls call, a Robin sings in a nearby branch, and the first Cuckoo strikes up. After a brief lull, dominated by the song of Blackbird & Robin, at around 3 minutes another Cuckoo joins in, this one having a rather unusual voice.
There are at least three Cuckoos singing in this particular area. The wonderful diffuse echo is caused by a wall of tall spruce, seen in the above photo, which flank the eastern side of the lake around 300m away. As the chorus builds, it's difficult to distinguish all of the different bird calls; but these certainly include those of Blackbird, Wren, Wood Pigeon, Willow Warbler, and duck (probably Teal). At times, Canada Geese can be heard too, from the other side of the lake.
Since the strip of native broadleaf woodland was established along the western edge of the lake, around ten years ago, bird numbers have increased enormously. Forestry operations are currently underway to harvest more of the plantation but, how much of this will be replaced with broadleaf remains to be seen. As much as the removal of the spruce improves the wildlife habitat, I do hope that the eastern section remains in place, as it fundamentally defines the acoustics of this shallow basin and without it, there would be no more cuckoo "sound mirror"!
Recorded: 2021-05-27 0400LT
Location: 52.197843, -3.841021
Download full length recording:
30min, 47MB, .ogg format
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