A rainy dawn chorus walk at Railway Fields

"It's going to hammer it down, " I said to Cassandra, the team leader at Railway Fields. "Should we cancel the Dawn Chorus walk?" 

"Of course not," she laughed. "The birds don't stop singing because of a bit of rain."

So, at 4.30am, wearing several layers and under an umbrella, I headed up the Harringay Passage with my husband to listen to the Dawn Chorus, expecting no one to show up except the staff.

As we walked the blackbird and the robin were already awake, soon joined by the insistent call of the great tit, shouting "teacher! teacher!" 

Although not everyone who'd signed up came out, well done to the hardy bunch who met us at 5.30 to listen to the birds waking up. 

We walked, stopped, listened, tried to recognise the calls, "Is that a wren?", Cassandra gave us some bird facts, on repeat for about an hour before heading back to the cabin for a cuppa.  

As usual, it was a magical experience to be up with the birds and before the noise of the human world when all the sound is intense. Even the rain sounds better under the trees at that time of the morning. 

Thank you to everyone who came, donated and shared this wonderful walk with us. See you next year!

Here's the list of birds we heard