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Troopers Hill Dawn Chorus Walk
Saturday 24th March 2018

The rain stopped just as bird expert & broadcaster Ed Drewitt joined us for a 5.30am start. The blackbirds were singing as we walked around the Field and on to the hill, soon joined by robins & wrens.

As the light gradually increased on what remained a cloudy morning, we walked around the edge of the hill following the path down towards Greendown and then alongside Troopers Hill Road. The range of birds we heard and saw gradually increased with house sparrows, great tits, blue tits, song thrush, dunnocks and a redwing. Overhead wood pigeons were leaving their over night roosts by the river looking for food, There was a meadow pipit and a flyby of three geese.

Ed pointed out that being above the trees on the roadside gave us a much better chance of spotting the birds as we were able to look down on them, rather than having to look up and spot them against the sky. Back up the hill and then into the woodland more robins and wrens and a brief view of a heron from the heronry at Eastwood Farm.

Returning to the Field we heard a green finch, a bird whose numbers Ed told us were in decline in the UK. The highlight though was right at the end of the walk as a male sparrowhawk flew low and right over our heads.

Many thanks to the Fountain Café for providing breakfast at the end of the walk.

Full list of birds heard or seen: Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Blue tit, Great tit, House sparrow, Woodpigeon, Feral pigeon, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Meadow pipit, Redwing, Magpie, Crow, Grey heron, Song thrush, Lesser back-backed gull, Herring gull, Sparrowhawk & Green woodpecker

Listen to Ed talking about the birds of Troopers Hill as part of our Audio Trail.

Listen to the 2008 dawn chorus recorded on Troopers Hill >>