The first light of a new dawn nudges the eastern horizon but indiscernible to us at this stage for it's only 3.30 am.

Whilst we can't yet detect that faint luminescence my two local blackbirds based territorially forty metres apart certainly can and begin singing at precisely the same moment every morning and continue throughout the day up until dusk with brief rests.

Until the final week of May they were joined by a chaffinch but he ceased singing abruptly one morning and has not performed since.

Both blackbirds sing in a broadly similar manner using the same basic structure of mellow flute - fullness but not with identical phrases so can be told apart quite easily.

Until eighteen months ago, following a severe storm in December 2013 my two songthrushes  would have joined in the dawn chorus but sadly not any more. The songthrush is in steep decline and I've only heard one or two in other areas this year. I do miss their strident melodic offerings and began to despair of ever listening to one again until on a few evenings recently, a very distant bird, so far away that it is difficult to pinpoint, begins his recital at dusk and not before.

Soon however,  as nesting declines and territories are less well defended all birds will begin their summer moult and as powers of flight are temporarily  reduced will fall silent  in order to avoid the attentions of predators.

Meanwhile I will enjoy my early morning wake up call for as long as possible. Oh....and my chaffinch is back.