Nature Features

There's something a little bit odd about standing in someone's garden at the crack of dawn, arm outstretched with a microphone pointing in the general direction of a clump of trees.

But there's method in this apparent madness.

BBC Radio Devon offered a dawn chorus detective service to listeners who wanted to know the singers which woke them up every morning.

The RSPB's Tony Whitehead

And listeners from across the county rang in, requesting our help.

We went out and recorded the songbirds from 16-20 April 2008, and then asked RSPB expert Tony Whitehead to identify the early morning singers.

Here's what our investigations uncovered:

Hemerdon dawn chorus

In West Devon, Lynn Fellows wakes up each day to an amazing dawn chorus of a number of species of birds.

Lynn lives in an idyllic rural spot near Hemerdon on the edge of Dartmoor and has learnt how to visually identify some of the feathered visitors to her garden.

She gets blue tits, chaffinches, long-tailed tits, robins, greenfinches - and much, much more!

But recognising the singers is more difficult: "We don't know what the sounds of any of them are," said Lynn. "When I listen to the cacophony out here, I can't work it out. It starts just before dawn breaks."

Tony's Hemerdon findings:

Tony could hear nine birds singing in Hemerdon: The green woodpecker, great tit, robin, song thrush, coal tit, woodpigeon, pheasant, crow and blue tit.

"The green woodpecker is just audible," said Tony. "It's not uncommon, especially on the edge of Dartmoor. It has a lovely, laughing sound."

Stella and Richard Cook

Exmouth dawn chorus

Richard and Stella Cook in Exmouth get visits from robins, blue tits, great tits, nuthatches, jays, woodpigeons and blackbirds.

They encourage the birds with food and nest boxes.

Stella said: "I'm not so good at the sounds at all, Richard is better. Every now and then we hear something very different and wonder what it is.

"We'd just like to know which birds are out there singing all the time."

Tony's Exmouth findings:

There were five birds singing in Richard and Stella's garden - the blackcap, chiffchaff, green woodpecker, woodpigeon and coal tit.

"The blackcap and chiffchaff dominate here. The blackcap is a summer migrant and it has a lovely, liquid song. They seem to be everywhere this year."

Stevenstone dawn chorus

In North Devon, Dr Jean Tyler gets visits from a variety of birds to her garden in Stevenstone just outside Torrington.

She has a lake which has attracted new birds, plants and insects to the area: "I do hear a lot of birds but I can't recognise them all," said Jean.

"I have sons who are very good at it. We do have a heron which comes in quite frequently.

"We have a great variety of tits here - marsh tits, willow tits,  blue tits, great tits, coal tits, and long tailed tits, which is very exciting."

Tony's Stevenstone findings:

Tony could hear nine species - the willow warbler, chiff-chaff, woodpigeon, blackbird, blue tit, chaffinch, Canada geese, wren and robins.

"This is a really nice medley," said Tony. "The willow warbler has a wonderful little song. It's a migrant and will have just arrived from Africa."

Torquay dawn chorus:

In South Devon, Elaine Green is awoken at 3am by the sound of owls, and that is followed by a succession of songs from the birds which visit her garden.

Elaine Green in Torquay

"I'm one of these early birds. I usually wake up to the owl. He lives in one of the trees in my garden. He usually wakes up at about 3 o'clock.

"I look out of the window and then I see a pair of crows, then seagulls, and then it all goes quiet for a while.

"And then there is the most wonderful sound of the robin - and I know this is probably the start of a lovely day."

Tony's Torquay findings:

Tony could spot six species - the wren, woodpigeon, magpies, crows herring gulls and dunnocks. There may also be a great tit in the distance.

"Right through it, you can hear the wren. It's a tiny little bird. Its song is a jumble of notes, then a trill, and then a jumble of notes again.

"It's very very loud here, and birds in urban areas have to be loud because they are competing with all the other sounds."

Tony was impressed with the range of songbirds in the four gardens. He said: "It was especially nice to hear the willow warbler. And the green woodpecker is doing really well."

You can listen to birdsong using the links on this page. Or visit the RSPB's website - also linked.