#XploreMore 2014 - task 65 - Wake up early enough to hear the dawn chorus

Task 65: Wake up early enough to hear the dawn chorus

"Hands up who wants to complete this Challenge?”

[silence]

Hmm, maybe this task could be our un-doing, I thought. Nobody found the prospect of waking up at the crack of dawn an appealing one. I blame Elddis actually … the single beds in the Xplore 574 are just too comfortable. As for Kerry, well she really isn’t a morning person. I normally like mornings, but I think we are all just in ‘sleep-in’ holiday mode - again, I blame Elddis and the Caravan Club for this :) Oh, and another factor is that, in the summer months, dawn breaks really, really early in the morning.

So, it’s week 16  and we are staying at the lovely Brecon Beacons Caravan Club site, and we still haven’t managed to complete it.

That is, until, I awake in the night and happen to notice that it isn’t pitch black outside. I spring out of bed (OK more like sloth-like inch out of bed) and outside.

Apart from the occasional noise of a car on the nearby road, I hear a single bird in a tree opposite waking up with an almost tin-like, click/squark. I’ve no idea what it was, but I recognise the fact that this is the start of the dawn chorus.

I stand still and listen (it’s a very mild and dry morning).

Within about 10 minutes there are several birds calling the start of the day. I identify one as a blackbird chirp, but the others I’m not sure of.

I remember reading once that the dawn chorus moves in a kind of wave, as light slowly appears over the horizon as the earth rotates. It’s fascinating to be in the middle of it. I check around the caravan site for a moment to see if anyone else is witnessing it with me (and to see if anyone is watching me thinking what is that weird bloke doing standing there in his PJs). But no one else is around. I think this is a shame, and then head towards the toilet block.

When I return, just minutes later, the site is alive with bird calls and movements.

I don’t know if I would call this a ‘chorus’ but it certainly is a beautiful thing to witness. And despite being a bit bleary eyed, I enjoyed it so much that I forgot about it being so early. It was actually a very relaxing way to start the day.

So relaxing that I decided to go back to bed.

Zzzzzzzz