NEW FOREST BIRDS AND THEIR SONGS
Spring 2014
Brackets indicate sounds/descriptions we didn’t hear but may have discussed (I’ve left them in from
previous bird song crib-sheets). Species with no additional notes at all, were seen but not heard and I’ve
not previously tried to describe their calls/songs.
BLACKBIRD: lower pitched than song thrush,
GOLDCREST: very high-pitched, jerky: ‘deedleecalmer & more 'mellow', no clear repetition.
deedlee-deedlee’ with flourish at end
Chucking, clattering and pinking alarms
GOLDFINCH: twittering, tinkling ‘tidilot’ or ‘teepot’
BLACKCAP: higher-pitched, more fluty and more
in flight. Song: liquid, varied twittering
excitable/varied than garden warbler. Alarm call:
GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL: (strong, deep
‘tack’.
‘aouk’)
BLACK-HEADED GULL: ‘keeyah’
GREAT CRESTED GREBE: (gargling)
BLACK-TALIED GODWIT: (‘wicker-wicker’)
GREAT GREY SHRIKE:
BLUE TIT: two or three notes followed by a trill.
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER: sharp 'kick'
Plus various tit-like calls! Agitated churring alarm
and agitated/excited ‘kek-kek-kek’; drumming
calls.
tails off after say 8 pecks
BRAMBLING: call: short nasal, hoarse ‘zweek’ –
GREAT TIT: variety of short, repetitive, lively two
present Shatterford car park before we started
or three-note phrases. Foot-pump: ‘peechoo,
peechoo’. Harsh, churring alarm calls
BRENT GOOSE: (growling grunk, grunk)
GREENFINCH: twittering and rasping, drawn-out,
BULLFINCH: call: short, soft, piping whistles
wheezing ‘greeeen’. Bat-like song-flight
BUZZARD:
GREEN WOODPECKER: loud ringing laugh
CANADA GOOSE: more musical, slurred, twoGREYLAG GOOSE: farmyard goose
note honking than grey-lag goose,
GREY PLOVER: (plaintive ‘plee-oo-ee’)
CETTI'S WARBLER: explosive, loud, short ‘che,
chetti, chetti, chetti’
GREY WAGTAIL: call: ‘Chi Chi’, (sweet shrill
repetitive song audible over noise of water.)
CHAFFINCH: bowling bird, finishing with a
‘weeoo’, various calls inc. ‘chink’, and repeated
HAWFINCH: call: sharp robin like ‘tick’, and ‘seep’
‘wheet’ or ‘burrp’
from tree tops and in flight
CHIFFCHAFF: after a faltering start: rhythmical,
HERRING GULL: (the traditional sea-side ‘keeow’
metronomic chiff, chiff, chaff, chiff, chiff ... Call:
gull call)
single syllable ‘weet’
HERON: (young: harsh chattering. Adult: ‘frank’)
COAL TIT: faster and higher pitched than great tit.
HOUSE MARTIN: dry, buzzy, repeated ‘prrrit’
Bicycle pump, call: teoo
JACKDAW: 'Jack'
COLLARED DOVE: 3-note chanting ‘un-it-ed’
JAY: angry, rasping, tearing screech. (Also mimics
COMMON TERN: (sharp ‘klit’) and rasping shrill
other sounds (e.g. buzzard))
‘kirri-kirri’
KINGFISHER: shrill ‘teee-peee’ second note often
COOT: short loud (‘clup’) or ‘spick’
slightly lower pitched
CORMORANT:
LAPWING: ‘peeewit’ often in swooping flight
CROSSBILL: bold ‘chup, chup, chup’ from tree
LESSER WHITETHROAT: (short, hurried warble
tops or in flight
followed by chaffinch-like trill on one note)
CROW: two, three or four times repeated ‘crow’
LINNET: flight call: dry, nasal ‘tigg-it’, song: happy
twittering and chirrups
CUCKOO: ‘cuckoo’! (Also guttural, laughing ‘gochche-che’.) Female has loud bubbling call
LITTLE EGRET: (gruff ‘aagh’)
CURLEW: beautiful rippling curlwee, curlwee,
LITTLE GREBE: whinnying descending trill near or
curlwee, sometimes in flight. Call: ‘curlwee’
from reeds
DARTFORD WARBLER: harsh calls, hurried
LITTLE TERN: rapid chattering ‘kirri-kit kirri-kit…’
‘jabbering’, scratchy song
LONG-TAILED TIT: ‘dee dee dee’ & short
DUNLIN:
splutters
DUNNOCK: hurried, tweedly, tweedly, tweedly.
MAGPIE: harsh mischievous chattering
(Call a short repeated ‘jay’)
MALLARD: female: loud laughing quacks, male:
EGYPTIAN GOOSE
much softer
FIRECREST: high-pitched accelerating ‘zee-zeeMARSH TIT: clipped ‘piCHOO’ often followed 2 or
zee’ without end-flourish
3 harsh churs, (song: series of quick ‘chip’ or
GADWALL: (short nasal ‘ned’)
chipper’ notes.)
GARDEN WARBLER: bubbly warbling phrases
MEADOW PIPIT: call: squeaky ‘seep’, song: thin
often quite long, lacking fluty notes of blackcap.
accelerating ‘zizizizizi’ notes in descending flight.
Alarm call: Harsh notes (longer than blackcap)
MEDITERRANEAN GULL: enquiring or admiring
‘au-oo’
NEW FOREST BIRDS AND THEIR SONGS
MISTLE THRUSH: Song: distant piping, notes not
easy to distinguish. (Alarm: rasping rattle)
MOORHEN: loud ‘crrook’
MUTE SWAN: note noise of wing feathers in flight.
(Call: explosive snort)
NUTHATCH: repeated whistles, some very high
pitched, or rapid trill sometimes quite loud
OYSTERCATCHER: shrill, loud ‘k-pleep’ in flight,
display ‘k-pleep-a-pleep-a-pleep-a-pleep-a-pleep’
PHEASANT: a throat-clearing cough
PIED WAGTAIL: Call: ‘Chiswick’; (song: short
burst of casual twittery chirps)
PINTAIL:
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER:
REDPOLL: mechanical two-tone buzzing in flight.
REDSHANK: tew-hoo, emphasis on first note,
display flight yodelling tudle-ludle-ludle…
REDSTART: brief warble starting with ‘eee-deedee’, lower pitched than robin from tree-top
REED BUNTING: call: shrill ‘seeoo’. Song: simple,
counting ‘tsweep’ repeated 3 or 4 times, perhaps
with short trill to finish
REED WARBLER: long, methodical chuntering
phrases in reedy places. (Mimmicks other birds)
RINGED PLOVER: (Call: melodious, liquid ‘tooi’
Song: trilling repeat of call)
ROBIN: relaxed, wistful, trailing off, 'Oh what a
lovely day', sympathetic. Ticking alarm call. Also
a faint very high-pitched ‘seee’
ROOK: single note: ‘caaw’
SAND MARTIN: dry buzzing in flight, alarm (e.g.
for sparrowhawk) more shrill
SHELDUCK: ‘ak-ak-ak-ak‘ also male:
squeaky/whistly ‘wittering’ often in flight
SHOVELER:
SISKIN: high-pitched whining ‘weeo’. Song:
complex twittering, buzzing and trilling notes.
SKYLARK: continuous song in high flight (rarely
from ground/post)
SLAVONIAN GREBE:
SNIPE: Rhythmical ‘chippa-chippa-chippa’ from
ground or perch or low flight. Outer tail feathers
vibrate in high whirring display, called drumming.
(Rasping ‘kiss’ when flushed)
Spring 2014
SONG THRUSH: repeats itself within a phrase,
clear, urgent piping. 'Song Thrice' (Call ‘zit’)
SPARROWHAWK:
SPOTTED REDSHANK: short ‘chu-wick’
STARLING: (Alarm: ‘spick’ (look for a
sparrowhawk)) Short harsh call. (Song with
flapping wings.) Young have buzzing call.
STOCK DOVE: less distinctive cooing in woodland
‘oo-oooo-oo’. (Gliding display flight)
STONECHAT: call: like two pebbles knocking
together ‘weet-tack-tack’. Song like short
Dunnock)
SWALLOW: (fast twittering with buzzing noises)
SWIFT: shrill screaming in flight
TAWNY OWL: territorial song: hooting. (Call:
horse ‘kewiick’)
TEAL: Bell or sonar-like piping, plus shrill mallardlike quacking
TREECREEPER: (song: descending trill ending in
short upturn.) Call: thin very high-pitched ‘treee’
TUFTED DUCK: (soft crowing or purring in flight)
TURNSTONE: (calls: rapid chuckling ‘tukka-tukkatuk’)
WATER RAIL: Repeated, far carrying ‘chip, chip,
chip….’ and a pig-like squeal
WHIMBREL: (ca. 8 short, tittering, high-pitched
whistles on one note)
WHITETHROAT: short and 'scratchy', longer in
song-flight. Alarm call: hurried, harsh:
‘ward,ward,ward’
WIGEON
WILLOW WARBLER: high-pitched, silvery, like
leaf falling in the wind, (Call two-syllabled whooeet)
WOODCOCK: three gruff croaks followed by a
squeaky ‘twzeek’ in roding flight above trees
WOODLARK: (Song in flight: toodle-oodle-oddleoodle. Call: watery ‘titloo-eet’)
WOODPIGEON: 5-note song: ‘take two coos
Taffy’ or ‘I’m very hungry’
WREN: series of loud trills/churrs in wellstructured phrase. Alarm: rapid ‘ch-ch-ch-ch’
Over 100 species found, of which we heard 80
Nigel Matthews,
e-mail: [email protected]