International Dawn Chorus Day this year was on Sunday 3 May. This was during lockdown and during the time that I was making my lockdown walks, which have become The 42 walks of Contención Island [https://martinpeccles.com/other-sound-works/the-42-walks-of-contencion-island/ ] – more of which later. The walk I made on IDCD will be featuring in a Tyneside Sounds Society: Dawn Chorus Broadcastathon. 

I’ll let Michael from The Tyneside Sounds Society, take up the story …

“The Tyneside Sounds Society invited people living in Tyneside and the north east of England to record the dawn chorus between 3am and 6am as part of a very special regional RecordAthon. Over 30 people took part, recording on phones, fancy bits of kit and also simple digital recording devices and microphones. People submitted over 13 hours of recordings; some long, some short – all fantastic! So what better way to present them then have an uninterrupted dusk till dawn BroadcastAthon on the amazing Star & Shadow Radio. Broadcast starts this Saturday 10pm and will finish around 11am the next day. I don’t expect you to stay up all night but it’ll be a nice chilled thing to go to bed and wake up to. You’ll also be able to listen to most of it via the Star & Shadow Radio showreel.”

You’ll be able to listen to it HERE >>> https://mixlr.com/star-shadow-radio <<<

https://starandshadow.org.uk/programme/event/tyneside-sounds-society-dawn-chorus-broadcastathon,4927/

06:42 – 07:28, wind NE 2 gusting 3, temp 8C (feels like 8)

A report on plans for coming out of lockdown is leaked to the BBC as Downing Street plays catch up over the membership and deliberations of SAGE.

    to the eastern peninsuLa
                  cross thE main sound
               along the gArdens
               a small monKey puzzle tree grows in a front garden
   a holly tree dome on a Stick
           pass through a Pulse of vehicles
    step into the green quIet
                   ivy truNks sawn at the tree’s base
            pass a quarry Dimmed with shrubs
         the two runners dIstance-pass
                two ducks Stand on the edge of the weir
move along above the burn’S flow
      a gatehouse roof tilEs missing
             a blackcap muMble-sings behind a wall
                along the Beat of the channel of sound
       the next train at pLatform two is for regent centre
           in the back-allEy plants grow in bins and buckets

04:19 – 05:04, wind NE 1 gusting 2, temp 7C (feels like 7)

An NHS doctor writes of government ‘lauding heroes’ whist watching them die without PPE.

                   around the soutH haven
                 a basement hum frOm a block of flats
                     light in the Windows of an early riser 
        over the dene the blackbirD sing
         amongst three blackbirds A wren trills
tilled rows lie still in the gatheRing dawn
              the crow’s call echoEs around the streets
                the exuberant blasT of a wren
                           song ecHoes along the terraces
    amongst the blackbirds a singlE song thrush sings
    the streetlight goes off as daY approaches

04:36 – 05:18, wind W 3 gusting 4, temp 7C (feels like 5)

There is scepticism about the government claim to have met its ‘100,000 tests a day by the end of April’ target.

                 to the wesT coast through a dawn chorus
 in civil twilight the streEts are empty
rolling waves of blackbird Song sweep by
      from far off the fainT shush of traffic
 a siren sings beneath an aIrcraft’s roar
              a scooter droNes by
           sparrows cheepinG and blackbird silhouettes’
   blue tit sings in the gaThering dawn
              through the tIght sounds of a narrow canyon
           walk into the teMpo of a chaffinch song
     pigeons call as sunrisE approaches
           four minutes to Sunup

06:20 – 07:01, wind W 2 gusting 3, temp 7C (feels like 5)

The virus reproduction rate (r) needs to be kept below one to halt the pandemic.

along the shore of south hAven
    a mistle thrush pale oN the grass
      over the fence neat Rows of potatoes
  step through the stream Of sounds
                 a verge oF sweet cicely bluebell and dead nettle
                       a bLackcap flies up into the sycamore
       trolls guard an allEyway gate
                    pigeonS display at the roadside
  rosebay willow herb growS under the eaves
              boutique cloThing home delivery available
     military general as rHinoceros
           a spaniel runs Amongst the cows
                   I straiN to hear the lark’s song
         the squeak-clang Of gates
         an alder grows feNced against the cows
           scattered feathErs mark a kill

06:29 – 07:13, wind E 1 gusting 2, temp 6C (feels like 6)

There is a to and fro of enthusiasm for wearing face masks in public – “not very effective” versus “what harm can it do?”

                             off To the west coast
                            mailbOx grey-greened with moss and lichen
       a bin-wagon returns for a Missed-bin
                          last yeAr’s flowers brown the buddleia
                        waves of Sound lap along the western shore
                  roman doric marKs a garden
      pavier and gravel gardens fOr cars
        a lost hat placed on a gaRden wall
                      a bricked-iN gateway
                the slug trails tO the top of the wall
                            pass The sparrow colony
                      the walled Triangle full of maple seedlings
chalked bricks and a shrek swamp On the pavement
     gable end picked out in creaM bricks
           wooden gates let onto A cobbled yard
                             NHS Staff priority at the bank
                         a dunnocK’s song at the turn into the alley

06:25 – 07:12, wind NW 1 gusting 2, temp 1C (feels like 1)

The clash of models – the economy versus heath – is a straw man.

                 to the nortH east clockwise
a dairyman consults his phonE
     don twarr is signed in A window
            candles of laureL scent the road
      headstones blurred by Time
               wind and weatHer   
    slow warmth in the sunshIne
          collared dove callS at the back of the cemetery
a dawn frost carpets to the Wall
                        stonEs stand in lost corners
                   a chiffchAff sings
                        the Long and winding road
                       a dusTbin is papered with flowers
  the bassett hound and lurcHer palatinate

06:40 – 07:20, wind W 2 gusting 4, temp 5C (feels like 3)

Government briefings caution about the point to relax lockdown.

            off into the West
              three chimnEy-top gulls call
   a door overgrown with A drape of ivy
             footsteps thRump on inspection hatch metal
                      fivE blackbirds pull worms from the lawn
   beech hedge buds softeN
                  warmer On the sunny side of the street
        a house name glisTens in the sun
      a front garden vegeTable patch looks unloved
                terraced Houses trimmed with orange brick
       the downwind sifflE of distant traffic
             there is no Rhubarb amongst the bluebells
           the gate’s tunE plays onto the moor 
   private garden no entrY
trace the wall along the Edge of the moor
trying to track a small sTream

07:26 – 08:11, wind W 3 gusting 5, temp 10C (feels like 8)

Boris Johnson quotes Cicero – “The health of the people should be the supreme law”

           to redefine tHe eastern shore
          the moor cattlE low
     meet the retriever And the lurcher again
          ponder on a cuL-de-sac
                     pasT gardens paved for minis and audi’s
                 along tHe narrow road across the bridge
            down steps tO the burn
                  right For a wagtail a mid-stream shoal
                       sTand before a bank of wild garlic
         the black lab cHases sticks
    cross the burn by thE mill and the force
                    the Passing snatch of blackcap warble
up the slope and into thE drifted scent of garlic
  a lóng guards the windOwsill
               towards oPalescent greyness in the west
                in at a Locked gate
             ordered vegEtable rows