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Great tits (Parus major) have a repetitive, easily recognisable two-note song © Bachkova Natalia/ Shutterstock.com
Whether you live in the city or the countryside, the constant chorus of birds is a reminder of how much wildlife there is outside your window. Although the cast of characters depends on the time of year, there are usually plenty of species waiting in the wings for their big solo.
Listen to the songs and calls of the most common garden birds in the UK and get tips on how to learn to recognise these familiar sounds.
If you listen carefully in a garden, park or green space in the UK you can generally hear birdsong all year. But the intensity and species singing will vary depending on the time of year and hour of the day.
1. Pick your spot. Choose somewhere easily accessible. Gardens and parks can be excellent spots, especially near fruiting trees and bushes, but street trees or any dense foliage can also attract songsters. Put up seed, nut and fat feeders if you have your own outdoor space, and see who turns up for breakfast. They're likely to sing nearby.
2. The early bird catches the worm. Early morning and the hour before sunset are the times of day when bird song is at its most intense.
3. Listen then look. Focus on the most frequent calls you hear - identifying birds is easier when you are only dealing with a few species. Once you have learned the most common sounds it will help you differentiate them from the less common. When you have noticed where a particular call is coming from, try and get a sighting of the bird to help you identify it. Most of the birds mentioned here will sing from a perch - a tree branch, fence, rock or roof - rather than from the ground.
4. Use mnemonics and rhymes. These techniques for remembering sounds will help you differentiate the songs and calls of different species. We've included some examples below, but you might find making up your own helps you to remember them even better. Also think about the rhythm, tone and pitch of the sounds. Does the bird sound cheerful, cross or mournful? Does it sound relaxed or in a rush to get through its tune?
5. Keep it simple. Don't try to identify too many birds at once when you are learning. Focus on one or two each day. Listen to recorded examples online and then come back to the area to listen again. Bird song identification apps can help get you started if you're struggling to see the singing bird.
A great tit (Parus major) singing. In winter, great tits gang up with blue tits and other birds to form flocks looking for food. © Petr Ganaj/ Shutterstock.com
Great tits have an iconic, high-pitched and squeaky 'see-saw-see-saw' song which makes it one of the easiest birds to identify by sound. Alternating between two notes of different pitch, it sounds a bit like a bicycle pump being used. It's often written as 'teacher, teacher'.
Listen to the great tit's song and discover more audio recordings of great tits on xeno-canto.
A blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) singing © John Navajo/ Shutterstock.com
Blue tits have a short, trilling song which isn't particularly tuneful, usually with a 'sispi si-hi-hi-hi-hi' or 'tsee-tsee-tsee-chu-chu-chu' structure. Two or three whistled notes lead on to a lower pitch trill, which varies in length.
Listen to the blue tit's song and discover more audio recordings of blue tits on xeno-canto.
A starling (Sturnus vulgaris) singing © Soru Epotok/ Shutterstock.com
Starlings produce a truly unique song. Listen for whistles, whines, cracking notes and squawks - more like experimental electronic music than the sweet pop melodies of some of their peers. Their mixes last a while too, sometimes a minute or more for each song.
Listen to the starling's song (starts after 13 seconds) and discover more audio recordings of starlings on xeno-canto.
A male house sparrow (Passer domesticus) chirping © Vishnevskiy Vasily/ Shutterstock.com
When it comes to singing, house sparrows might place in the 'top marks for effort' category of Britain's Birds Got Talent. They have an unsophisticated song of simple chirps, but they have staying power and often sing for several minutes.
Listen to the house sparrow's song and discover more audio recordings of house sparrows on xeno-canto.
A robin (Erithacus rubecula) singing © Pefkos/ Shutterstock.com
Robins have a delicate song with warbling notes, whistles and clear pauses. It is sometimes written as 'twiddle-oo, twiddle-eedee, twiddle-oo twiddle'. In the autumn and winter, the song is soft and mournful, becoming clearer and more powerful in the spring and summer months. You're also likely to hear it making a 'tic' sound, often repeated over and over, which is one of its calls.
Listen to the robin's song and its 'tic' call, and discover more audio recordings of robins on xeno-canto.
A pair of wood pigeons (Columba palumbus) © Jerzystrzelecki (CC BY 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons
You really can't mistake the low-pitched cooing of a wood pigeon's song. With a five-note structure, the sound can seem strained and desperate, in the rhythm of 'I DON'T want-to-go, I DON'T want-to-go'. This is the UK's largest and commonest pigeon, and alongside its song you will often hear the loud, clattering sound of its wings when it takes flight.
Listen to the wood pigeon's song and discover more audio recordings of wood pigeons on xeno-canto.
A song thrush (Turdus philomelos) singing © Levina de Ruijter (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons
Song thrushes have one of the easier songs to identify. Although they have a varied repertoire, they repeat each of their short phrases up to three times before moving on to a completely different one, which no other common birds do. Their notes are confident, powerful and less mellow than those of a blackbird. You're most likely to hear song thrushes singing from March to July, but they sometimes begin singing much earlier, even in late autumn if it's mild.
Listen to the song thrush's song and discover more audio recordings of song thrushes on xeno-canto.
A male blackbird (Turdus merula) singing ©Ondrej Chvatal/ Shutterstock.com
With a beautifully mellow song, blackbirds deliver low-pitched, flute-like verses which often close with a squeaky twiddle. Like song thrushes that will sometimes begin singing in late autumn, blackbirds can also start singing early, in winter. Their songs are also similar, but the blackbird's are less repetitive.
Blackbirds also produce a shrill, staccato alarm call as well as a more rapid rattling sound.
Listen to the blackbird's song and discover more audio recordings of blackbirds on xeno-canto.
A magpie (Pica pica) calling © DF Bridgeman/ Shutterstock.com
It is very likely you will have heard magpies chatting in the neighbourhood. They have a distinctive rattling call which is powerful and abrasive, as well as a 'ker-chock' contact call.
Listen to more audio recordings of magpies on xeno-canto.
A pair of collared doves (Streptopelia decaocto). Collared doves are relatively recent UK residents, having arrived here in the 1950s from the Middle East via Europe. © Dhaval Vargiya (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons
The cooing of the collared dove is similar to the sound of the wood pigeon but more persistent (lasting 10-20 seconds to the wood pigeon's 6-10 seconds) and with shorter, three-note 'I-LOOOVE-you' phrasing - appropriate, as they're often spotted in pairs. They are paler, smaller and less common than their woodland-dwelling counterparts.
Listen to the collared dove's song and discover more audio recordings of collared doves on xeno-canto.